DUBAI // A soldier who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl then claimed to be suffering from mental health problems to escape punishment had his one-year jail sentence reduced to three months by the Dubai Court of Appeal on Sunday morning.
The Emirati, K A, 23, was not present at the Dubai Criminal Court last January to enter a plea but hjs lawyer said he suffered with mental health issues. However, he failed to present official documents to support his claim.
Prosecutors told the court that the 13-year-old Emirati girl knew the defendant through her cousin and, after several phone calls over a month-long period, the two agreed to meet.
On October 4 last year, the teenager met K A in the car park of Mirdif City Centre mall in Dubai at around 11pm. She said the two kissed and agreed to meet the next day.
At 8pm the following day, the defendant picked the girl up from near a beauty salon in Al Warqaa.
“He took me to a hotel in Kalbaa and there we had sex,” said the girl.
She spent the night with the defendant and the following morning, after the soldier went to work, she called her uncle to pick her up and take her home, but instead he took her to a police station.
A forensic lab report said that the girl had not had sexual intercourse, and there was no DNA traces from the defendant found on her body.
However, prosecutors said that K A confessed to a charge of sexual assault during investigations.
He was sentenced to a year in jail which he appealed and had his term reduced to only three months.
salamir@thenational.ae