Woman sailor thwarts Dubai rape attempt with leg stranglehold

The sailor, 28, was taking the bus back to her ship following shore leave when the driver stopped the vehicle and tried to rape her at knifepoint

DUBAI // A bus driver who tried to rape a passenger at knifepoint chose the wrong victim, a court heard yesterday.
The female sailor knocked a knife from her attacker's grasp, broke it in two, bit his hand, wrestled him to the ground and put him in a stranglehold between her thighs.
Having beaten him into submission, she left the bus and reported the incident to her boss.
Prosecutors told the Criminal Court the sailor, 28, was on 24-hour shore leave on January 19 this year when the attack happened.
After visits to Mall of the Emirates and a supermarket, she decided to head back to Khalid Port and was trying to hail a taxi when the bus stopped beside her.
She climbed aboard and sat in the back seat but became suspicious of the route the driver was taking.
"I noticed he did not take the main road and when I asked him he told me not to worry," she said.
About 10 minutes later, the driver pulled up in an area where a number of other buses had parked, sat next to her and tried to kiss her, prosecutors say.
When she pushed him away he pulled a knife and told her he was going to rape her, and that she must do as he said. Police arrested the driver the next day at his home.
"He was drunk at the time of arrest," said the attending officer.
The driver, K?S, 21, from Pakistan, was charged with attempted rape, threatening to kill, assault and consuming alcohol illegally.
He confessed only to the alcohol charge and said he was too drunk on the night to remember what else happened.
The court ordered he be examined to determine his age after he failed to provide the court with a birth certificate.
Tests found traces of the sailor's blood and hair on the bus.
The case was adjourned to May 1.
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*This story has been updated to reflect a correction. In an earlier version, we identified the victim as a US Navy officer due to an error in translation. The victim was in no way connected to the US Navy. She was on shoreleave from a merchant vessel.