Pair accused of rape and molestation of French teenager in Dubai

The 19-year-old French woman met the accused ata party - she was found the next morning lying half-naked in a building site in Al Barsha.

DUBAI // Two men, one of them a talent show contestant, appeared at the Criminal Court on charges of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old French woman at a party.

Prosecutors charged Emirati S S, 34, with rape and his compatriot A A, 23, with molestation. The alleged incident happened at S S’s villa in Jumeirah Village on July 5 last year.

The woman was found the next morning, lying half-naked in a building site in Al Barsha, by an army officer who was out jogging.

Emirati corporal A M A, 45, said he tried to wake her but she would not get up. “I returned to my nearby house, called the police then brought my wife with a blanket to cover up the woman,” he said.

The victim was taken to hospital, where tests proved she had been raped. Once recovered, she told police she met the two men at the JBR Sheraton then went with them to a villa, where they all consumed alcohol.

“I fainted and then I woke up in hospital and knew I had been raped,” she told prosecutors.

The police officer who interrogated the defendants said A A admitted meeting the woman on the beach and persuading her to go with him to a party. A A claimed that the woman had consensual sex with S S.

The policeman said: “He also told me that she drank too much and took off her clothes then started dancing naked, after which she started smashing the place.”

The victim and the two men were first referred to prosecution on charges of illegal consumption of alcohol and having consensual sex. After investigations, the charges were amended.

The next hearing is on April 30.