DUBAI // A 28-year-old man has been sentenced to a year in jail for raping a work colleague at his farm in Jebel Ali.
Dubai Criminal Court heard that the Emirati attacked the 23-year-old Italian-Moroccan on May 28 last year after inviting her to dinner.
The victim said she had known the defendant for several years as they both worked at Dubai International Airport. On the day of the incident he invited her to dinner in Abu Dhabi.
“I said OK and sent him my location so he could pick me up,” said the woman, adding that the man arrived in a car with his brother and told her they needed to go to his family’s farm to have a dinner with his sisters.
“When we arrived at the villa his sisters did not come and he started hitting on me. When I turned him down he dragged me to the bedroom, pushed me inside then ripped off my clothes and raped me,” said the woman, adding that the man drove her home the next morning.
“I told a friend what happened and he took me to hospital then to Jebel Ali Police Station to report the incident,” said the woman.
Her friend told the court he saw bruises on the woman’s body. “I went to see her and she told me what happened after I saw some bruises on her,” said the 33-year-old Moroccan.
In court, his lawyer accused the woman of trying to blackmail his client but he was sentenced to a year in jail.
salamir@thenational.ae
