ABU DHABI // A man accused of attempting to rape three women said they picked him out of an identity parade only because it was flawed.
"They lined me up next to office boys wearing their brown uniforms, so there was no other defendant for them to recognise except me," M, from Egypt, told the Criminal Court today.
He said that one of the women who complained about him described her attacker as blonde and tall.
"I neither have yellow hair nor does my height match her description," he said.
The judge reminded him that women in three separate cases, and other witnesses, had identified him.
In the second case the man is accused of undressing a woman with the intent of raping her. Prosecutors said he ran away after the woman started screaming.
Once again, the man denied involvement, and challenged the woman to recognise him from a new line-up alongside other prisoners.
"But there was a witness, a Sudanese man, who heard the screams and saw you run away..." said the judge.
The man claimed that the third woman who reported him did so while he was already in police custody, but the judge was once more incredulous.
"How can you deny all three cases, why would they accuse you out of all people?" he asked.
The judge added that in the third case the building's watchman saw him trying to rape the woman at knifepoint after forcing her to undress and that a number of people came to her rescue.
The case was adjourned until January 29.
hdajani@thenational.ae
