Dubai man charged with attempted rape of tourist

An Italian tourist who was looking for a job in the UAE has claimed a man tried to rape her after pretending he wanted to hire her.

DUBAI // An Italian tourist who was looking for a job in the UAE claimed that a man tried to rape her after pretending he wanted to hire her.

The Dubai Criminal Court heard on Tuesday that Indian sales representative M S P, 41, pretended to be hiring for his company when he met the 29-year-old woman.

The man allegedly offered the Italian, M P, a job and arranged to meet her at a hotel on August 2 last year to sign the contract. She alleged that after getting into his room and signing the papers, M S P took her by surprise and attacked her before she managed to push him off and ran out of the room.

She reported the incident to the police the next day.

“She said [through a translator friend] she had been subjected to an attempted rape by a man at the Marriott hotel, so we headed there and checked the CCTV footage,” said Emirati officer M A, 27.

He said the cameras showed the two going into M S P’s room and in less than an hour the woman was seen running out of the hotel room, crying.

He said there was no camera evidence to prove the claim of attempted rape. But the forensics report said the woman had suffered minor bruises that could have been a result of the alleged incident.

The defendant denied a charge of attempted rape.

The next hearing will be on February 9.