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Sponsor with Two Wives Accused of Raping Maid

DUBAI — An Ethiopian housemaid broke into tears in the court on Wednesday while recounting the ordeal she had been through in the house of her Palestinian sponsor, accused of raping her.

The 22-year-old maid told the Court of First Instance that her sponsor, a 48-year-old human resource manager with two wives, raped her repeatedly after beating and threatening her in his apartment in Al Qusais from December 2008 to April 2009.

Asked by Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir why she waited to report him, the maid said she knew nobody outside and that she was scared.

She approached the police through the Ethiopian Consulate on April 16 as she could not bear living in the house any longer.

“He used to rape me in his apartment in Freej Al Murar after he leaves his family in Abu Dhabi,” she said.

Asked by the presiding judge whether she resisted, the maid said she could not as he would overpower her after beating her and pulling her hair. He threatened to kill her if she ever informed his wife.

The sponsor had pleaded not guilty earlier.

A police officer testified in the court that the defendant admitted to having consensual sex with the maid.

The maid told the police that he was raped the first time about a month after she joined work in the house. She said he had promised to open a bank account for her but never did.

mary@khaleejtimes.ae