ABU DHABI // A man accused of kidnapping a woman he picked up on the street, said he thought she was joking when she threatened to throw herself out of his car, the Appeals Court was told on Sunday.
The Chinese woman was allegedly offered Dh100 in exchange for sexual services, after the Emirati picked her up in his car.
She refused, and in protest started dangling her legs out of the car. She eventually fell out of the moving vehicle, injuring herself.
A passer-by confirmed that he saw the woman fall from the car and said the defendant drove off.
The Emirati, who denied kidnapping the woman, told the court: “I was driving home when I saw the woman and she signalled for me to stop and hitched a ride to the bus station.
“Then she offered herself in exchange for an amount of money. She said I will do this and that.”
Chief Justice Dr Khairi Al Kabbash interrupted the Emirati, saying the woman only spoke Chinese.
“She spoke English Chinese,” he replied. “I refused the offer and laughed about it.”
“Then she dangled her legs out of the car. I thought she was joking, like a child whose request was rejected, then she threatened to drop herself.
“The first time she did not fall, the second time she did not either, and I was laughing at her thinking she was playing around. The third time she fell by mistake, because her heel slipped from where she was holding it on to the car.”
He said he did not know what to do, but claimed the woman walked away, seemingly unhurt.
“She was taken by an ambulance,” said the judge.
The driver’s lawyer, Mohammed Al Khazraji, denied there was an ambulance involved in the incident.
“Then after I drove past two traffic lights, I found police waiting for me and they arrested me.”
“If I were in your place I would not accept this case,” the chief justice jokingly told Mr Al Khazraji.
The lawyer said that the woman was walking in the street before dawn to hunt customers near McDonald’s, Electra Street, which is open 24/7.
At The Emirati’s original trial at the First Instance Court he was given a suspended one-year jail sentence for causing the woman’s injury unintentionally, a Dh2,000 fine for drinking alcohol, and Dh500 fine for speeding.
A verdict will be announced on February 22.
hdajani@thenational.ae
