An 18-year-old British construction apprentice is facing a one-year prison sentence for a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old British girl while on holiday in Dubai.
Holiday romances are the stuff of rom-coms and chick-lit — but not for 18-year-old Marcus Fakana, who is facing a one-year prison sentence for his summer fling. The construction apprentice from London was on holiday with his family in Dubai in September when he met a fellow British teenager at his hotel, and they began a romantic relationship that became sexual. The pair planned to continue their budding connection in London.
But when the 17-year-old girl returned to the United Kingdom, her mother discovered the relationship and reported Fakana to Dubai police. “It was very traumatic. I was taken from the hotel without being told why. I wasn’t allowed to call anyone, including my parents,” Fakana told CNN in a written statement shared by his legal advisory team, Detained in Dubai. “Everything was in Arabic and I didn’t know when I would get out. I wasn’t given access to a lawyer, the embassy, or my parents.” The age of consent in the United Arab Emirates — of which Dubai is the biggest city — is 18, making the girl a minor at the time of her relationship with Fakana. “I did not intend to break the law, I didn’t even know she was one month away from being 18,” says Fakana, adding he didn’t consider age an issue as they were in the same school year. The teenager says he’s sorry and regretful for breaking law — but is appealing to the conservative monarchy’s Prime Minister and Dubai ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, to repeal the one-year jail sentence handed down to him last week, “to let me go home for Christmas with my family.” A ‘modern’ tourist destination Dubai is popular with Western European travellers, who flock to the beach-side city for its warm climate and luxury lifestyle. The city hosted a record 17.15 million international visitors last year, and its airport served 87 million passengers, making it the second-busiest in the worl
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