Daijiworld Media Network - Dubai (SHP)

Dubai, Dec 14: An Emirati man convicted of illegally hunting a gazelle in a nature reserve in the UAE, has challenged his two-month jail sentence.

The official court documents detailed that the man hunted the animal in a protected area of Al Dhafra. However, he ended up hitting the gazelle with his Nissan Patrol vehicle. Once the animal was killed, he took it home to slaughter it for meat.

As per the sources, authorities tried to stop him after they found him in the reserve with the animal. The concerned officials tried to stop him, but the man sped away. Soon after, the police investigated the case and arrested the man.

The Court of First Instance had sentenced him to two months in jail and fined him Dh 5,000 after he was found guilty of hunting in a protected area.

The judge also ordered the confiscation of the man's vehicle and his knife.

However, the Emirati challenged the ruling in Abu Dhabi Appellate Court claiming that he was unaware of the fact that the Al Dhafra reserve was a protected area.

He defended himself in the appellate court stating that the place where he was hunting was an open desert area without any signposts showing that it was a nature reserve.

When the judge questioned the man over speeding away when asked to stop, the man replied that he feared being arrested because he had an earlier court ruling which barred him from driving after his driving licence was seized for four months.

His defence lawyer asked the court to change the charge from hunting in a nature reserve without permission and illegally hunting a gazelle to accidentally killing an animal that belonged to someone else.

Following new appeals, the trial was adjourned to a future date.