Alert girl foils rape bid in Dubai, dials 999

Dubai - The girl distracted her attacker and dialed the helpline. The call was connected throughout the ordeal, and helped police track the vehicle.

A man's attempt to rape a female companion in his car late at night in the desert was foiled thanks to swift intervention by Dubai Police, a court heard.

The Court of First Instance was told that a 22-year-old Emirati took his Canadian friend out for dinner, and then drove to a desert location in Al Rashidiya where he tried to have sex with her against her will.

But she somehow managed to call Dubai Police's emergency hotline without letting him notice.

The accused did not attend the first hearing of his trial.

He has been charged with kidnap, attempted rape and making criminal threats.

The complainant, a 21-year-old jobless, said she had met the accused about two weeks earlier at a petrol station in Jumeirah, where they exchanged numbers.

"I went out with him after parking my car in Al Warqa. He took me for dinner at International City," she told the prosecutor.

On the way back and after skipping the exit to her place she told him she wanted to go back home. "He insisted he wanted to drive for a while with me."

She panicked when he entered a dark area of farms.

"When I said I would open the door and get out he threatened he would tie me up and slap me."

She called Dubai Police's 999 and distracted him by talking.

"I cried and screamed for him to drop me back but all he wanted to do was have sex," she said during the investigation.

The woman's call with the police was ongoing throughout this time.

At one time when she told him she would open the door the accused told her he would then invite his friends to join him.

A police corporal said they tracked the defendant's car location through the woman's mobile number.

"We spotted a car driving in the dark near some farms. We surrounded it with two patrols cars. A woman stepped out from the front seat crying. She rushed towards the patrol car," the officer said.

Both were then taken to Rashidiya police station for interrogation.

mary@khaleejtimes.com