Maid kidnapped and forced into prostitution, Dubai court hears

Three brothel owners tricked a Sri Lankan woman into prostitution, hears court.

DUBAI // A woman was kidnapped by a man she met at a bus stop before being locked up in a brothel and forced to prostitute herself for Dh15 per customer, the Criminal Court heard today.

SM, a 27-year-old Sri Lankan maid, told prosecutors that she arrived in Abu Dhabi in March 2011 but absconded from her sponsor's house about a year later and went to meet her sisters in Sharjah. While she was waiting for them at the bus station a man approached her and began chatting.

She told him she needed a job and he said he could find her one that paid well.

He then took her to an apartment in Naif, Dubai, where she met two women who were working willingly as prostitutes. "They told me they were paid Dh15 for each time they had sex with a customer," said the maid.

When she refused to prostitute herself, she was beaten by the three men who ran the brothel, so she gave into their demands.

A police raid on the apartment in June resulted in the arrest of the three men. Two prostitutes were also arrested. AF, a 40-year-old policeman, told the court that the men had been running the brothel for the past 20 months.

Three men - TE, a 27-year-old from Pakistan, and the two 27-year-old Bangladeshis TA and MR - were charged with human trafficking, kidnap, running a brothel, and benefiting from prostitution.

The Pakistani denied the charges, while the two Bangladeshis were not present in court.

The next hearing was scheduled for October 18.