DUBAI // A Tajik driver assaulted a woman after she refused his sexual advances, the Dubai Criminal Court was told.
The Kazakh woman, 39, had arranged for the man, 36, to pick her up and drive her to the Gloria Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road in March last year, while she was in the emirate for a visit.
“He accompanied me to my friends’ hotel room and we all spent the time chatting. He started drinking heavily,” the woman said.
She said they left the room about 5am and headed to the hotel lift, where he started expressing his feelings towards her.
The man tried to kiss her a few times, then hit her when she kept rejecting his advances, she said.
“We got into the lift and again he tried to kiss me, so I pushed him and told him I am not letting him drive me to my place,” the woman said.
Meanwhile, a 26-year-old hotel member of the hotel staff who was delivering newspapers to guests in the morning, heard the woman’s screams on the 32nd floor.
“The lift door opened and I saw a man banging a woman’s head and kicking her all over her body,” the witness said.
“I rushed to help her and asked him to leave her alone, but he wouldn’t listen to me and ordered me to go away.”
Police were called to the scene and arrested the driver, while the woman was taken to Rashid Hospital.
He was charged with sexual and physical assault and drinking alcohol without a licence. He confessed to drinking but denied the two accounts of assault.
The next hearing is scheduled for June 2.
salamir@thenational.ae
