A coffee shop employee who denies a charge of stealing Dh100,000 in revenue from his employer claims the accusation was made vindictively because he had filed a labour case against his boss.
WJ, an Egyptian, denies he stole the money and claims the case only arose because he had filed a labour case against his employer for not allowing him to go on leave for the past six years.
He told the court that his task was to serve shisha and coffee, and not to collect money from customers.
However, he acknowledged that sometimes in the absence of the accountant, Muna, and upon the request of the owner, he used to do the accounting and register returns.
WJ told the court that he filed a labour complaint against his employer in July 2009 asking for his rightful leave.
He said he was shocked to learn in December 2009 that his employer was suing him for breach of trust, claiming he stole Dh100,000 from the cafe’s returns between June 2008 and June 2009.
He said that a year after he left the job, the employer filed the case against him and said that the accounts book submitted by the employer did not include the one-year period that was the subject of the case.
Nader Mohammed Rida, 30, a regular customer of the café, testified that while WJ used to serve him shisha, another employee of the café would collect his bill.
Rida also told the court that one day the other staffer came to him and asked him to pay an unpaid bill of a cousin. This was about a year before the café closed.
The court adjourned the case until August 22 for the complainant to submit the civil right defence.
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