Couple appealing give different accounts in different tongues

A man and woman offered contradictory testimony at a trial accusing them of consensual out-of-wedlock sex.

ABU DHABI // A couple appealing against their sentences for consensual sex gave mixed accounts in court yesterday.

Each was speaking in their different native tongues and through translators.

The Bangladeshi man, D, said sex had not taken place, while the Filipina identified as K admitted to the charge, but asked for leniency in sentencing.

The man said through his translator that he only confessed after being beaten.

"I was hit by several police, so I admitted under pressure," he said.

When asked by the judge, the woman said she was a Christian married to another man.

She admitted to the charge after being asked three times.

Both defendants' translators spoke in Arabic to the judge.

Their original sentences were not disclosed and the case was adjourned to a later date.