DUBAI // A carpenter who beat up and then raped a female cleaner in the women’s toilets at a mall will serve 15 years in jail.
Dubai Criminal Court on Sunday convicted the Indian defendant, 47, of rape.
The victim, a 25-year-old from Nepal, was cleaning the toilets at City Walk at about 2am on July 10 last year when she noticed the defendant behind her in the mirror.
“I asked what he was doing there. I tried to walk away and, at the same time, pulled my mobile phone from my pocket but he snatched it then dragged me by the hand into the changing room,” the woman said.
The rapist then hit her on the mouth, slapped and threatened her before sitting on top of her and stripping her naked, she said.
“He gagged me with one hand and stripped me with the other then raped me and only ran away when he heard footsteps.”
The victim got dressed and told a security guard what had happened.
Police were called and they took the cleaner to hospital. The carpenter was arrested after the victim identified him at the police station.
“He was found hiding between cars in a car park,” said an Emirati policeman.
The man told police during questioning that he entered the women’s toilet by mistake. He said the woman took off her clothes and offered herself to him and that, when they were finished, she insulted him so he slapped her.
He denied rape when he appeared in court last year. However, he was found guilty and will be deported after serving his jail term.
The sentence is subject to appeal within 15 days.
salamir@thenational.ae
