ABU DHABI // A father was sentenced to two years in prison and fined Dh1,000 yesterday for causing the rape of his daughters at the hands of an acquaintence.
RA, an Emirati, got one year for blackmail, one year for exposing someone to danger and the fine for not reporting a crime.
RA was sued by his ex-wife, MM, who said he was responsible for the sexual assault of his 7- and 6-year-old daughters. She said he allowed their abuse to blackmail her into giving up her alimony and paying him Dh20,000.
MM said RA smuggled the girls to Doha and kept them at the house of a friend who was an inmate with him during a three-year drug sentence. A brother of the ex-inmate raped the girls, her lawsuit said.
When the girls told their father of the incident, MM said he told them they deserved it.
His lawyer said that did not make sense, as the girls had been abused by one of MM's brothers in the past and RA had immediately reported it.
"The eldest daughter was previously raped by her uncle and he filed a complaint," she said. "He did not keep quiet about it when it was a relative, so why would he ignore it when it is a stranger? It is clear that the plaintiff holds a grudge against the defendant."
hdajani@thenational.ae
