News
Marcus Fakana, 18, Jailed For One Year In Dubai After ‘Holiday Romance’ With 17-Year-Old Girl
Prosecutors say they acted on a complaint from the girl’s mother – but campaigners have criticised the sentence and say the UK government hasn’t done enough to help.
An 18-year-old Briton has been sentenced to a year in prison in Dubai after a “holiday romance” with a girl who was 17 at the time.
Marcus Fakana was with his family in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) when he met the girl – who’s also from London and is now 18.
The head of campaign group Detained In Dubai said his treatment was a “disgrace” and Mr Fakana felt abandoned by the British government since his arrest in September.
He’s expected to appeal against the sentence.
Mr Fakana previously said the pair kept their romance secret from the girl’s family “because they were strict” and had hoped to continue seeing each other back in the UK.
However, he said police turned up at his family’s hotel and took him into custody without explanation.
The emirate attracts millions of visitors each year. File pic: Reuters
Detained In Dubai said Mr Fakana was arrested and charged after the girl’s mother found their chats and pictures when they got back to the UK and called Dubai police.
“[Marcus] was desperately hoping to come home this week but prosecutorial mishandling in the first stages of the case meant it wasn’t heard as a misdemeanour when it should have been,” said the group’s boss Radha Stirling.
Mr Fakana and his family have urged UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who is also their MP in Tottenham, to intervene in the case.
Dubai is well known for its strict laws on drugs, alcohol and sex – the age of consent is 18 and strictly enforced.
In a previous statement, prosecutors said: “Under UAE law, the girl is legally classified as a minor, and in accordance with procedures recognised internationally, her mother – being the legal guardian – filed the complaint.
“Dubai’s legal system is committed to protecting the rights of all individuals and ensuring impartial judicial proceedings.”
Kenya Insights allows guest blogging, if you want to be published on Kenya’s most authoritative and accurate blog, have an expose, news TIPS, story angles, human interest stories, drop us an email on [email protected] or via Telegram
The Teflon Company: How Gulf Energy’s Insiders Built Billions on Kenya’s Fuel, and Walked Away Clean
Inside Details Of Sh78 Billion Fraud in KPC’s Mombasa-Nairobi Line 5 Pipeline Project That Has Continued To Bleed The Country
Details Of The Precise Rescue Of Elite US Troops From Iranian Territory
The Fuel Deal That Exposed Wandayi’s Lies As Pressure Mounts For His Resignation
Who Architected the Ksh 4.8 Billion Fuel Scandal? Two CSs Now Caught in the Storm
THE ZAKHEM-ECOBANK MACHINE: How Kenya’s Courts Were Weaponised to Drain a State Corporation of Over KES 78 Billion
Poison at the Pump: How Kenya’s Fuel Marking System May Be Exposing Millions to Cancer-Causing Chemicals
Inside Nyayo House: The Kitchen Cartel That Demands Sh100,000 for a Stove
JSC Rot: “Why I Paid Over Sh4 Million for a High Court Slot” — Explosive Claims by ‘Incoming Judge’
Fly 748 Is Back And Flies You To Mombasa From Just Sh6,500
Tuju Forcefully Removed From His Karen Property With Masked Officers In Unmarked Vehicles In Early Morning Raid
Named: Havi Says Mutava Confessed He Was Collecting The Bribe For Lady Justice Josephine Mongare, So Why Is JSC Still Silence?
How Little-Known Pesa Print, Linked to State House Tycoons, Won NTSA Tender Worth Sh42 Billion in Traffic Fines
The Man With The Golden Pen: How NLC’s Joel Ombati Is Accused Of Masterminding Kenya’s Biggest Infrastructure Land Heist
‘They Will Eat You Alive’: Retired Teacher Warns Against Bashy African Credit as Sh500,000 Loan Spirals Into Sh1.5 Million Fight
THE HANDSHAKE THAT BECAME A NOOSE: How Tuju’s Alleged Intimate Access to EADB’s Yeda Apopo Produced a Sh294 Million Deal With No Written Contract, and Why That Trust Destroyed an Empire
Waweru’s Bank Pockets Sh1.16 Billion from KPC IPO While Ordinary Kenyans Fled the Sale
Forged Legacy: How Kaplan and Stratton’s Peter Gachuhi Is Accused of Faking a Top AG’s Will as State Claims Damning Evidence
Men Linked to Akasha Drug Dynasty Charged With Death Threats and Assault at Nairobi Nightclub
How Firm Linked To Mombasa Tycoon Jaffer Was Allowed To Import Fuel At Bloated Price And Set To Make Billions In Profits From Iranian War Crisis In Kenya
-
Business2 weeks agoTHE HANDSHAKE THAT BECAME A NOOSE: How Tuju’s Alleged Intimate Access to EADB’s Yeda Apopo Produced a Sh294 Million Deal With No Written Contract, and Why That Trust Destroyed an Empire
-
Investigations6 days agoForged Legacy: How Kaplan and Stratton’s Peter Gachuhi Is Accused of Faking a Top AG’s Will as State Claims Damning Evidence
-
News1 week agoMen Linked to Akasha Drug Dynasty Charged With Death Threats and Assault at Nairobi Nightclub
-
Business6 days agoHow Firm Linked To Mombasa Tycoon Jaffer Was Allowed To Import Fuel At Bloated Price And Set To Make Billions In Profits From Iranian War Crisis In Kenya
-
News1 week agoCity Lawyer Kimani Wachira Caught Up In Bribery Web Fights Claims
-
News5 days agoTreasury Hands Sh358M Brief to Eric Gumbo’s Firm While Bypassing Standard Rules — and the Lawyer Is Already Deep Inside Ruto’s State Machine
-
Business5 days agoSold And Abandoned: How Diageo and Asahi Are Locking Kenya’s EABL Minority Shareholders Out Of East Africa’s Biggest Corporate Heist
-
Business6 days agoTHE BANK THAT BROKE THE TRUCKER: How NCBA’s Asset Financing Empire Is on Trial Before London’s Most Feared Arbitral Tribunal