Shepherd denies trying to rape and kill woman

A Sudanese woman was able to fend off her attacker, but not before he beat her.

DUBAI // A shepherd who tried to rape and kill a woman, was kicked and bitten as she fiercely resisted, a court heard today .

AA, 37, from Sudan, was charged with attempted rape and attempted murder. He met the alleged victim, HA, 29, also from Sudan, while shopping in Fareej Al Marar area. He helped her carry the bags to her apartment and there they exchanged phone numbers so she could reach him if she needed any kind of assistance.

At 10pm of March 20 this year, AA showed up drunk at the woman's door.

"I was sitting with my neighbour when he came and asked me to go with him to a nightclub, but I refused and threw him out," she said.

The man returned five hours later, entered the woman's apartment and asked to have sex with her. When she refused he punched her in the face, threw her on the floor and tried to rape her.

HA bit him on the chest during a struggle. AA became angry and stepped on the woman's abdomen and kicked herin the head. HA fainted, then woke up to see the defendant coming towards her with a knife.

When she tried to run towards the door, he dragged her by the leg while she was holding the door knob and said he would kill her.

She kicked him in the legs and he dropped the knife. When he tried to grab it back from her he cut his hand.

The woman tried to call police but the defendant knocked the phone out of her hand and beat her unconscious. She woke up 15 minutes later and he was gone. She asked her neighbour to help and call police.

"Someone knocked on my door and when I opened it, it was HA bruised all over her face and body," said MB, the 43-year-old Sudanese neighbour.

AA denied the charges in court this morning. The next hearing will be on July 26.