DUBAI // An employer who raped his Indonesian maid then threatened to kill her was given a life sentence by the Dubai Criminal Court on Wednesday.
On November 27 last year, Emirati R A, 29, called his 30-year-old maid to his room to iron his clothes.
“I was preparing breakfast to take to his hospitalised wife so I asked him to bring his clothes to the kitchen for me to iron them,” she said.
R A insisted she finish the ironing in his bedroom. As she entered the room, he locked the door and removed the key.
The woman tried to hide in the en suite bathroom, but R A grabbed her and threw her to the ground, where he raped her.
“I begged him repeatedly, I reminded him he was married. I asked him how would he feel if someone did the same offence to his wife and I told him I was married. But I begged him in vain,” the victim said.
She told prosecutors that R A had repeatedly molested her in the six months she had been working for the family.
“He would come to my room, hug me and touch my breast. I told him during these incidents that I would scream so he used to leave me alone. But this time no one was in the house and the other two maids were in the outside kitchen,” she said.
Prosecutors said after raping her, R A forced her to take Dh200.
“I refused but he said he would kill me and break my arm,” she said.
Later that day, she told her fellow maids what had happened and they advised her to run away.
But as she left the house, R A caught her and forced her back inside. “He threatened to kill me if I told anyone,” she said.
The woman then managed to phone her embassy, where staff advised her to call the police.
salamir@thenational.ae
