No sign woman was raped, doctor tells Abu Dhabi court

A woman who claims she was gang-raped showed no signs of having been assaulted, doctor who examined her tells court.

ABU DHABI // A woman who claims she was gang-raped by nine men showed no signs of having been assaulted, according to the doctor who examined her.

FB, from Uzbekistan, claims that after leaving a nightclub in the capital on October 7 she was dropped off at a taxi rank and, at about 8am, another person called her, picked her up, then took her to a remote area of desert where she was beaten and raped by nine men.

Four of those men deny rape but have admitted having sex with her, and claim she is a prostitute and that she went with them willingly after agreeing to a Dh700 fee. She did not remember the other five men.

In the Criminal Court yesterday the doctor who examined the woman following the alleged attack said there were no signs of injury on her body. The woman previously told the court she had been hit on the forehead, chest and arms.

But the doctor, who said his examination took place four days after the alleged attack, found no signs of such assault. He said that had a rape occurred he would expect the woman's thighs and knees to show signs of bruising, but that there were no such bruises.

"If she was hurt there would have been marks," said the doctor. "I saw neither marks nor injuries."

The woman told the court that the examination took place a week after the attack, rather than the four days the doctor had claimed, and that this was why he could find no signs of injury.

The case was adjourned to January 14.