Woman denies prostitution, claims she was gang-raped

A woman from Uzbekistan said she was forcefully taken to the desert, beaten and raped by nine men, court hears.

ABU DHABI // A woman who denies being a prostitute today told a court that she was raped by nine men.

FB, from Uzbekistan, said she was forcefully taken to the desert, beaten and then raped by each of the men as the others looked on.

Four of the nine men have been charged with sex outside wedlock. RF, KM, FA told Abu Dhabi Criminal Court that they had an agreement with the woman and two of her friends to have sex in exchange for Dh700 each.

RF said he had met FB a few times before and would see her at the nightclub he went to, Aqua at Le Royal Meridien Abu Dhabi.

He said he met FB and asked her to go with him to Yas Island, along with two of her friends for his friends, KM and FA. He said she had agreed and he gave her Dh700 for each girl. RF said he left the nightclub with her and she got into his car willingly.

However, the Uzbek woman gave another version of the story to court.

She said she was called by TM, another defendant, who wanted to convince her to drop the charges she had made against one of her friends who, she claimed, took a gold necklace from her and never returned it.

TM asked her to come to his car so they could work it out. FB said as soon as she got into the car, someone closed the door from outside and TM immediately locked it, took away her mobile phone and drove off.

FB said she was shocked that her friend was not in the car and that two men - KM and RF - were there instead. She said they both started hitting her and she tried to open the door but TM held her hands and KM held her back to the seat, preventing her from moving.

When they got to the desert, TM called someone and, minutes later, two other cars arrived.

FB said they all watched from outside the car as she was being held by her arms and legs by two men as another raped her. She said they were all violent with her and by the time the fourth was raping her, she had lost consciousness.

After the ordeal, she said she was driven to the Russian Embassy and told to get out of the car. FA told her not to let the police know and that she would be paid for her silence. Later that night she called an ambulance as she was in pain and reported the incident.

Prosecutors called for CCTV footage from the nightclub on the night of the incident, to see whether or not FB was there with RF.

The case was adjourned until December 31.