An unemployed man, who attacked and stole the purse of a Filipina resident in the elevator of her residential building, has been charged with forcible robbery in the Court of First Instance.
According to Marle Nammour’s report in Khaleej Times, the Nigerian man grabbed the woman by the neck and covered her mouth when they were left alone inside the lift, with the intent to snatch her purse.
“As I walked in the lift, I pressed the button for the 2nd floor while an Indian woman wanted to go to the first. A man (the defendant) pressed on the button for the 4th floor. Once the Indian woman reached her floor and got out, he suddenly attacked me,” the woman said in court.
Her purse contained some gold jewelry pieces worth about Dh2,600, mobile phones, bank card, and Emirates ID.
The man was able to leave the building through the emergency exit while the woman screamed for help, prompting other residents in the building to call the police.
“”We picked up the accused from Al Qusais police detention centre around 2pm on March 13. We had suspicions he was the man who had attacked the complainant in the present case, given the same criminal pattern. He would target people while they are alone with him in lifts, overpower them to snatch their belongings and then escape through the emergency exits,” a police officer told the prosecutor.
