A British teen who had sex with a 17-year-old girl while holidaying in Dubai has told of his ‘devastation’ after being sentenced to a year behind bars.
Marcus Fakana, 18, has called on the ruler of the UAE to commute his 12-month sentence, insisting he never intended to break the law.
He has made a public plea to Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum to ‘give him his life back’ and allow him to return to the UK after finding out his fate yesterday (11 December).
Fakana was facing the prospect of spending up to 20 years in jail following his arrest.
The young lad, from London, was on holiday with his family with Dubai when he met a 17-year-old girl at his hotel.
The girl – who is now also 18 – is said to have kept their relationship under wraps due to her strict parents, but Fakana happily divulged details of it to his relatives.
After her family returned to the UK, the teen girl’s mother discovered the pair had sex after reportedly going through her daughter’s phone.
Authorities in Dubai were alerted and Fakana was arrested in his hotel room and held at Al Barsha Police Station for three days.
Although the relationship would have been legal if it had taken place in London – where both the construction apprentice and the girl live – this is not the case in Dubai.
The law was only recently changed to allow tourists to have sex outside of marriage, but it requires both participants to be aged 18 or older.
Fakana has been supported by campaign group ‘Detained in Dubai’, who branded his one-year jail sentence an ‘utter disgrace’.
The pressure group’s founder and chief executive, Radha Stirling, said the 18-year-old had been ‘desperately hoping’ to return home this week.
She told the BBC: “But prosecutorial mishandling in the first stages of the case meant it wasn’t heard as a misdemeanour when it should have been.
“The family have issued a plea to Dubai ruler HH Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum to spare Marcus for consensual sex with another British citizen.”
Fakana has now told of his ‘shock’ after receiving the news he will be banged up for 12 months in a maximum-security jail.
Breaking his silence on the dramatic saga, he told the Daily Mail: “Today I was sentenced to one year in Dubai prison.
“My family and I are devastated and in shock. I never intended to break the law.
“It didn’t occur to me at the time and for that, I’m sorry.
“I am asking His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum to please forgive me and pardon me.
“Let me go home. Please give me my life back.”
Fakana is currently out on bail while his legal team gear up to appeal the sentence and is staying in a rented apartment, which is being financed with GoFundMe donations.
His family have expressed their disappointment about the lack of support they have received, saying that the teen feels ‘abandoned’ by the British government.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting a British man in the UAE and are in contact with his family.”
