DUBAI // The not guilty verdict of a man accused of helping a domestic worker abscond from her sponsor before selling her into prostitution for Dh3,000 was upheld by Dubai Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
Bangladeshi A M, 35, was acquitted from a charge of human trafficking by Dubai Criminal Court last November but prosecutors appealed.
They allege that on June 9, 2013 he sold the woman, who is also from Bangladesh, into prostitution.
She said she came to the UAE in February, 2013 to work for an Emirati family in Ras Al Khaimah.
“I worked for two months for Dh600 a month then I ran away with the help of the boyfriend of my colleague,” she said, adding that he allegedly promised her Dh2,000 per month if she ran away and worked for him.
On April 7, the other maid, identified in records as K, got a mobile phone so that her boyfriend, A M, can call when he arrives to help the two women abscond.
She said he picked them up and A M later sold her to a massage centre manager for Dh3,000.
Emirati police captain A A, 34, said that they got a tip-off about the defendant, after which they placed him under surveillance and arrested him in a sting operation.
The reason for his acquittal was not revealed.
salamir@thenational.ae
