UAE fitness trainer walks free for lack of evidence

A fitness coach who was convicted of illegally selling weight loss products worth Dh70,000 to an obese woman has been cleared of the charge on appeal.

The Abu Dhabi Appeal Court cancelled an earlier ruling by a lower court that had fined the Arab man Dh40,000 after he was found guilty of illegally selling medical products to a woman without having a license.

Official court documents showed that the trainer, who works for a health fitness center in the capital, had allegedly sold 25 boxes of weight loss drugs including diet pills, needles and other medicines to the overweight woman despite the fact that he didn't have a license allowing him to do so.

The woman had complained to authorities after the weight loss products caused her complications that badly affected her health.

The woman told authorities that the Arab man had sold her the weight loss products at Dh70,000 after convincing her that they would help her lose a considerable amount of weight.

And after using the medicines and without a doctor's prescription, the woman said she developed health complications including abdominal cramping, passing gas, leaking oily stool and others.

The use of weight loss drugs requires a doctor's prescription before using the medicines because it's important for the patient to tell the doctor about his or her medical history including allergies and others, before they prescribe certain weight loss drugs as not all drugs are for everyone.

Prosecutors had charged the trainer with selling medical products without having a license and endangering the woman's health.

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance had earlier found the man guilty of illegally selling weight loss products but cleared him of the charge of endangering the health of the woman.

The man challenged the ruling to the appeal court denying the charges and saying he was wrongly convicted.

His lawyer, Ali Al Abadi argued that there was no sufficient evidence to prove that his client had sold the said bad weight loss drugs to the woman. He also told court that some weight loss products are available for customers in many gyms or health fitness centers in the UAE and that it was not proper to place the charge of illegal sale of such products to a customer.

The appeal court then cleared the fitness coach of all charges.

Source: Khaleej Times