Only in Dubai/part 2

I really must run a series recording the classic 'look what you made me do' excuses given by the accused in Dubai courts.

There's another doozy in today's Gulf News.

You don't need the link, it's only short so here it is:

Manager claims he was forced to impersonate police official

By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter

Dubai: A manager who is being tried for impersonating a police official has claimed that he was forced to do so because "a secretary abused him verbally over the phone".

Dubai Public Prosecution had charged the 26-year-old Lebanese manager, identified as H.G., with impersonating personnel from Dubai Police's Criminal Investigation Department.

The manager who appeared before the Dubai Court of Appeal yesterday was pleading guilty but seeking clemency. "I did send an SMS to the claimant's mobile phone in which I claimed that I was a police official. I had to do so because the girl abused me verbally and cursed and insulted me," the 26-year-old accused told Presiding Judge Fouad Hamdoun yesterday.

Police heard that the accused sent an SMS to the 27-year-old secretary, S.R., from Belarus, on her cell phone in which he impersonated a policeman. In his statement, the accused claimed that he coincidentally called up the woman twice and spoke to her.

He said she abused him over the phone after which he sent her an SMS.

The Dubai Court of First had earlier fined him Dh2,000 but the Public Prosecution appealed the initial verdict.

So we have the manager (coincidentally) phoning the 'Russian' girl, the content of the calls we can guess at, she tells him to **** off, he sends an SMS saying 'you can't talk to me like that I'm a police officer'...and his defence is that he was forced to take that action.

I can't wait for the court's verdict.