What parent subjects another's child to jail for a holiday romance?

Vindictive doesn't begin to sum up subjecting teenager to jail for holiday fling

I HOPE the mother whose actions have left a teenage boy in a Dubai jail for a year is happy with herself.

I hope she reflects on her over-the-top reaction to her 17-year-old daughter having sex with the 18-year-old Londoner she met while out there while on holiday and understands the gravity of what she has done.

Vindictive doesn’t begin to sum it up.

Marcus Fakana, from Tottenham in north London, had himself been on a family holiday in Dubai when he met the British girl, who is also from London and has since turned 18.

They both intended to continue their holiday romance back in the UK.

Instead, Fakana was taken into custody without any explanation after police turned up at his family’s hotel following the mum’s complaint. He was detained for three days. On Wednesday he was sentenced to a year.

I hope that mum is pleased with herself. I hope she gets a sense of the contempt most other parents - actually, most other people - feel towards her.

Be angry, yes. Breathe fire at the boy and even his parents, yes. But involve the police? Wreck the boy’s life? What a lack of respect and compassion towards Fakana’s parents and loved ones.

It is totally understandable that the mother would have been incandescent with rage at her daughter. I have an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old. As a parent I can understand totally the anger at the sequence of events. But what parent subjects another's child to a foreign jail for a holiday fling?

And yes, rules are rules. The law in Dubai is clear. It forbids sex outside marriage for tourists unless both parties are 18. We in the UK can be quite blasé about the laws in other countries but zero tolerance over there really does mean zero tolerance.

Here’s the thing, though: A campaigning group called Detained in Dubai, which has spoken to Fakana, said he was only charged because the girl’s mother found their chats and pictures once she’d returned to the UK.

The mum contacted the police in Dubai and they arrested him.

A trial was held this week, culminating in the sentence which has shocked Fakana, his family and everyone following the case.

You’d at least have had more respect for the mum if she’d flown back with her daughter - who had committed the same crime - to Dubai so that she could face accountability as well.

You also have to wonder how the chain of events which have left Fakana in jail actually helps the daughter, who has since turned 18.

Further, how does it help the girl who will now be plunged under a social media scrutiny she did not ask for?

I can only imagine what must be going through the minds of Fakana’s distraught father and mother, knowing their son is all alone in a Dubai jail tonight and for the foreseeable future.

It might just be that the girl’s mother only appreciates the damage she has done when the relationship between both women starts to freeze over.

ends