DUBAI // Two men will spend three years in jail for attempting to rape a woman as she walked home from work late at night.
The defendants attacked the Kenyan victim, 28, as she was heading to her home in Al Quoz on September 22 last year.
“I felt two men walking right behind me and before I could walk faster, one of them jumped at me, dragged me to a dark corner nearby, then started touching with one hand while trying undress me with the other,” she said.
One of the men, a Pakistani, acted as a lookout while the other, a Bangladeshi, tried to rape the woman. She resisted until the two men were scared off by a passing taxi.
Police arrested them a few hours later in the same area.
“She identified the two men after we arrested them and when she said they tried to rape her, they did not deny or confess. They just kept silent,” said a police officer.
The woman suffered bruises and scratches in the assault.
At Dubai Criminal Court, the Bangladeshi, 31, denied a charge of attempted rape but confessed to drinking alcohol without a licence.
The Pakistani, 26, denied aiding and abetting but also confessed to an alcohol charge.
Both were convicted and sentenced to three years in jail to be followed by deportation,
They can appeal their sentence within 15 days.
salamir@thenational.ae