Woman raped in Dubai park by man posing as staff member

A unemployed man, who kidnapped a woman and then raped and sexually assaulted her, was charged at the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.
According to public prosecution records, the 46-year-old Bangladeshi man lied to the Pakistani woman that he worked for Dubai Municipality and threatened that he would fine her Dh 500 unless she accompanied him to the police station.
He was charged with kidnap, rape, sexual assault and impersonation of a public employee, which he denied all in court.
Prosecutors referred him to trial with a recommendation he received the strictest legal penalty possible under the law.
A case was registered on October 6 at the port police centre.
The victim, a 22-year-old woman on a visit visa, said that she did not know the defendant prior to the incident.
"I arrived to the UAE through the Sharjah International Airport to visit my sister and look for a job."
The complainant told the prosecutor that she was walking with her boyfriend on Al Mamzar beach at 6 pm when the defendant approached them. "He showed us a card bearing his photo, claiming he was a municipality employee, and asked what we were doing there and about the nature of relation between me and my friend. He told me to accompany him to the police station and that he would fine us Dh 500. My boyfriend went to his car to bring his ID."
She recounted how the defendant snatched her mobile phone from her and talked to her boyfriend and kept it with him. "He made me climb the park fence and told me 'not to argue with him as he was a government employee'.
"He made me walk on rocks in a dark place, which was very dangerous until we reached a sandy and remote location. I asked him to leave me alone but he then gagged me, pulled my hair and threatened to kill me and throw me in the sea."
In her testimony, she said that the accused ordered her to keep quiet. He made her perform a sex act on him then raped and sexually assaulted her. After he was done, he threw her mobile phone on her and asked her to put her clothes on while she cried.
She ran to the street and hailed a cab. She called her cousin and met him together with her boyfriend.
She was taken back to Al Mamzar beach where they called the police.
The victim's boyfriend, a 28-year-old Pakistani driver, corroborated her testimony. "She was in a very bad shape when I saw her after the incident. Her hair was in a mess and clothes covered with sand with no shoes. She said that that man raped her."
A police lieutenant said the accused knew the place, where he raped the victim, as he is a former employee at the park.
"We searched his place and seized the clothes he wore on that day. He had returned to the UAE despite a ban order."
A forensic report confirmed the victim was raped by the defendant.
The accused was medically checked-up at the Dubai police health centre and he was confirmed to have hepatitis B.
The next hearing is set for January 24.
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Marie Nammour

mary@khaleejtimes.com