By Maryam Dabo
A British teenager jailed for one year in Dubai for having sex with a 17-year-old girl has broken his silence over the sentence.
Marcus Fakana has pleaded with the ruler of Dubai to commute the sentence and be allowed to return home.
The 18-year-old was with his family in the UAE when he met and had sex with the teenage girl, also from London.
He now faces time in a maximum-security jail.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline from the UAE where he faces 12 months in jail, Fakana begged: ‘Please give me my life back’.
Marcus apologised for breaking the law and described his ‘devastation’ at the year-long sentence.
He said: ‘I was sentenced to one year in Dubai prison. My family and I are devastated and in shock.
‘I never intended to break the law. It didn’t occur to me at the time and for that, I’m sorry.
‘I am asking His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum to please forgive me and pardon me. Let me go home. Please give me my life back”.
The teenager is out on bail while his lawyer prepares an appeal against the sentence.
He is being allowed to stay at a rented apartment that is being funded by the more than £30,000 raised in a GoFundMe campaign.
The teen is being comforted by members of his family who flew to Dubai ahead of his trial on Monday at the First Court of Instance.
They were forced to sit outside the courtroom while his lawyer argued for leniency and were not allowed to participate in the 15-minute hearing.
Under Dubai law, those accused are not allowed to take part in a trial with prosecutors and defence lawyers arguing the case.
His lawyer is filing paperwork today to expedite an appeal but the legal process in Dubai is slow, and it could take months before his case is heard.
Marcus, a construction apprentice, was arrested in August after the mother of the girl he had a secret romance with filed a complaint about him to the Dubai authorities on her return to the UK.
She had checked her daughter’s phone and discovered they had been sleeping together. Since returning from Dubai the girl has turned 18.
Under strict UAE law, only tourists aged over 18 are legally allowed to sleep
