The British teenager, 18, jailed for a 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 s3x with the teenage girl, also from London. He now faces rotting in a maximum-security jail.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline from the UAE where he faces 12 months in jail, the 18-year-old begged: ‘Please give me my life back’.
Marcus apologised for breaking the law and described his ‘devastation’ at the year-long sentence.
He said: ‘Today 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 notoriously 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 Fakana 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 together.
Marcus has previously told how the couple had planned to see each other when they got home.
He said: ‘We had a wonderful time together. We really liked each other but she was secretive with her family because they were strict.
‘My parents knew about our relationship, but she couldn’t tell hers. She had to meet me without telling them it was to see a boy.
‘They said they were taking me in for questioning but wouldn’t tell me why. I couldn’t imagine what for. I was frightened and my parents were terrified.’
Ms Stirling added: ‘Marcus is 18 years old, but faces the demise of his entire life for being intimate with someone in his same school year, who is his same age.
‘This is where Dubai authorities need to be intelligent about their application of the law. Marcus had consensual relations with someone his own age, from his own country while on a short holiday.
‘He does not deserve to be locked up in Dubai Central Prison for a fling’.
