DUBAI // A student sentenced to 10 years in jail for attempting to rape a woman in his car, has had his prison term reduced to one year by the Court of Appeal.
At a hearing in October last year, the Dubai Criminal Court heard how Emirati E A, 22, met the victim, a 28-year-old woman from Saudi Arabia, over BlackBerry messenger.
On June 29, the woman said she was at Dubai Mall when she received a message from an unknown number.
“He asked that I add him to my list of friends so I did,” she said. “Then he started chatting with me and said he worked for the ruler of Dubai and said he was training people in horse riding at the stables.”
The woman said she was keen to see the horses and they agreed to meet at the mall.
“So we met and sat together for an hour then I told him that it was getting late and I had to go home. I agreed to let him drive me,” said the victim.
E A drove to a deserted area in Bur Dubai where he stopped the car, slapped the woman and grabbed her hair before jumping in the back seat.
“I was terrified as he tried to kiss me so I resisted. He yelled at me demanding to have sex but I kept resisting until he stopped,” she said.
E A then drove the woman home, where her family saw her crying and called the police.
Police officer M A, 52, from Bahrain, told the court the woman was able to resist E A because he was not very strong.
E A denied a charge of attempted rape when he appeared in court in June this year but was sentenced to 10 years in jail. However, the Dubai Court of Appeal reduced his sentence to one year.
tzriqat@thenational.ae
