Abu Dhabi Court of Appeals on Saturday upheld a sentence of seven years and two months in jail against an Asian woman for attempted robbery at gunpoint at a money exchange in Abu Dhabi in March, and for breaching the UAE’s residency laws.
The case has been dubbed the ”money exchange ghost” as it featured an Asian woman dressed in a black abaya, black gloves and a headscarf when she attempted the robbery.
The Asian woman threatened the employees of the exchange with what turned out to be a fake plastic gun. Her attempt failed when an employee managed to overpower her and seized the gun.
The woman will spend seven years in jail for attempted robbery, threatening to kill others and disrupting public security. The additional two-month jail term was handed down to her for illegal stay in the country in violation of the UAE Federal Law on Entry and Residence of Foreigners. She will be deported from the country upon completion of her sentence.
She confessed to the court that she planned the robbery to pay off her debts and claimed she carried out the attempted robbery on the same day she came up with the scheme, and bought an abaya, a black face veil and a toy gun.
Later, she denied the charges and claimed that she was just “kidding”. The court, however, rejected her claims and explained that using a toy gun had the same effect as a real firearm could have had since it caused the victims to panic because they believed their lives were really under threat and they could have accordingly responded to the demands of the attacker who brandished the gun.
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