Police officer must see out his jail term for rape, Dubai court rules

DUBAI // A police officer locked up for six months after being found guilty of rape has been told he must see out his prison sentence by the Dubai Court of Appeal.

The Dubai Criminal Court was told in an earlier hearing that Emirati AM, 19, asked the Lebanese victim to join him and his friends at a café on Sheikh Zayed Road on February 11 last year.

After talking for a while, he drove her to a deserted area in Al Barsha 3 at nearly 5am and raped her in his car.

The 25-year-old victim testified that she met AM in a café and after chatting some of his friends arrived and joined them.

“He asked me to go with them to another café so we got into his car, but instead of going to a cafe he went to a remote area,” she said.

She noted that AM stopped the car to let his two friends out then moved to the back seat and asked to have sex with her.

“I refused and resisted but he ripped my cloths off and raped me,” she said in official records, adding that AM screamed at her and told her to obey him if she wanted to return home in one piece.

He then asked her to pleasure his friends but she refused.

“One of his friends showed me his official police ID then they dropped me near Mall of the Emirates, after which I headed to a police station and reported the incident,” said the victim.

AM was arrested and charged with rape but claimed the sex was consensual.

“She became angry because I paid her less money, so she reported me for rape,” he told prosecutors.

AM added that while at the café he agreed to have sex with the woman in return for Dh2,500 but he only gave her Dh1,500, After which she threatened to accuse him of rape.

CCTV camera footage from near the cafe showed AM, his friends and the victim getting into AM’s car.

In court AM denied rape but confessed to consensual sex. He was convicted on June 16 this year and sentenced to six months in jail. He appealed against the sentence but lost.