Sally Antia, the British woman who admitted to having an affair in Dubai after her husband informed the police has been given a 2 month jail sentence by a court in Dubai. Mark Hawkins, the man with her when they were arrested is a father of four who had come over from the UK for a “visit”. He denies the charges and apparently was shaking uncontrollably when he was sentenced and kept asking how Sally was – he has also been given a two month jail sentence.
This, on the face of it is a relatively lenient sentence for them, given that they could have been sentenced to years of imprisonment. However, I am far more concerned about the bit that hasn’t been mentioned much – that at the end of the sentence they will be deported back to the UK. That is fine for Mark Hawkins, although he will obviously have to face the wrath of his family, but what about for Sally Antia? She has two children and has lived in Dubai for 13 years. She will lose custody of her children and be forcibly removed from the country.
I wonder if her husband is regretting his decision to report his adulterous wife to the police. He might currently think it is sweet revenge for her behaviour (I certainly do sympathise) but what about for the children who have now been deprived of their mother. If only he had given a little more thought to how badly they will be affected by this outcome. I can only hope that he is planning to come back to the UK at the same time so that she can be with her children.
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
well if he is a dubai citizen then I doubt he will return….there is a pattern here is there not….frankly a tad silly to give her husband or ex a whiff of ammunition given the track record of Arab fathers who do 'keep' their children. Horrific.
In the news this week was a mother whose son was found by her sister on facebook after 27yrs. His father kept him at aged three, no wonder his mother is in very poor health. I doubt I would be able to breathe ever again…'cept for HOPE.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:52 am
Dreadful story… hope those kids will be ok…
I have not been keeping up with commenting here, but I was really fascinated by the Doris Lessing post.. hope your detective work in Africa will uncover some of the mystery? wow!
I see you are on twitter, I have signed up, BUT I have not yet figured out what it is actually for?? Feeling a bit inadequate about it
June 4th, 2009 at 12:59 am
yes you're right FFF – for some reason I'd assumed he was a British citizen…she must have been aware of the consequences and depressingly I'm reading a book about Nietzsche at the moment and he says 'hope' is a tragic human emotion that fools us all into thinking everything will eventually be OK.
Thx Karen yes, the Africa thing is really interesting and hopefully I'll find some other stuff out when we're there – yes I'm on Twitter BUT I really don't get it either. I don't have the time to work out why I'd want it either Lx
June 4th, 2009 at 2:08 am
God that's scary. Just shows how careful you have to be when living in another country/culture. I'll be interested to see if we ever hear the rest of the story x
June 4th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Imagine trying to explain to those children why they can't see their mother and why she might have to go away forever.