DUBAI // A British man who was accused of raping his stepdaughter’s friend at a birthday party was found not guilty by Dubai Criminal Court.
The court heard the 17-year-old was invited to a party and sleepover at her friend’s villa in Al Barsha.
The teenager said the birthday girl’s mother and 63-year-old stepfather were drinking alcohol, dancing and eating.
“At around 8.30pm I noticed my phone was missing.
“I started looking for it when the defendant touched me from behind,” the girl said, adding that he followed her around the house and told her he was “enchanted by her beauty” and wished “he was in his 20s so he could be with her”.
“I didn’t give him much attention and resumed looking for my phone,” she said.
Later that night, the man allegedly hugged the teenager in the garden. His wife saw him, screamed at him and asked for a divorce.
The girl then went to a bedroom to sleep while the man slept on a couch in the living room. She claimed she awoke to find him touching her.
“When I asked him what he was doing, he told me to shush,” said the girl, who then claimed he held her on the bed and raped her .
The next day at school, she told a friend and the school social worker, who contacted police.
The results of a forensic report were inconclusive and found no traces of the defendant’s DNA on the girl.
He denied a charge of rape at a hearing in March.
The court acquitted him of all charges.
salamir@thenational.ae
