Man locked up woman’s family to force her into prostitution, Dubai court hears

The Pakistani told the 20-year-old that she would come to the UAE for a job at a beauty salon but, instead, he raped her and forced her to have sex with two other men, the court heard.

DUBAI // Three men are accused of raping a woman after locking up her mother, daughter and sister, and threatening to harm them if she did not have sex with them.

Defendant M F, 38, from Pakistan, offered the 20-year-old Pakistani victim a job at a beauty salon after contacting her through a middleman, Dubai Criminal Court heard yesterday.

But she refused to travel to the UAE because of her daughter and the fact that her mother would not allow it.

She said that the defendant then agreed to allow her to bring her mother, daughter and sister.

The women arrived in Dubai on August 1 last year and were taken to a flat near Dubai Hospital, in Deira, that belonged to M F.

“There, M F told me that I wouldn’t be working in a salon, and that I would have to prostitute myself or he would hurt my family,” said the woman.

Hours after her arrival, she alleged he raped her. The next morning he took her to a hotel where she met the two other defendants, M T, 55, and R P, 41, who had paid M F to have sex with her, according to court statements.

“When I refused to have sex with them, they called M F, who then threatened to cause harm to my family because they were under his mercy, so I gave in and had sex and danced for the two men,” she said.

The victim’s sister told the court they were kept in a garage at a house.

“It was our first day when my sister was taken by M F, who said she had to go to her job interview. She returned at nearly 3am and was crying.

“I took her away from her daughter and our mother so she wouldn’t wake them up, and she told me what had happened to her,” said the victim’s sister.

She told the police about her ordeal but M F blindfolded her mother, sister and daughter, assaulted them and took them to another house.

The sister said: “M F told me and my mother that if we wanted him to let us go we should pay him a ransom, so we called my father in Pakistan, who had to mortgage our house and wire the money.”

When he received the money, the defendant ordered the mother to go to police and claim that her daughter was crazy and that she had told lies.

After the mother did this, she was released together with the sister and daughter.

M F is charged with human trafficking, rape, locking up women against their will, and facilitating prostitution.

The other two men are charged with rape. They all deny the charges.

The next hearing will be on February 9.