DUBAI // A 26-year-old man facing a charge of rape refused to attend his first hearing to enter a plea at Dubai Criminal Court.
Guards told the presiding judge that Moroccan MS, who is accused of raping a Pakistani maid in 2012 along with five other men, refused to accompany officers to the court complex on Sunday morning.
Prosecutors said that the victim was lured to the country on a promise of a well-paying job by a Pakistani man who was convicted of human trafficking. The maid stated in records that when she arrived she was taken to a flat in Dubai where she met several other women who worked as prostitutes.
“This Pakistani man told me I will also sell my body but I refused and told him that I have burn marks on my back and therefore asked him to work as a maid in the flat,” said the woman.
The victim said that she was then asked to start attending parties and dance for men and that she did not have to sell her body. On one occasion on October 10, 2012, she attended a birthday party where she was given a juice that was spiked with drugs. After drinking it she was carried to an apartment in International city where six men, including MS, assaulted her, ripped off her clothes and took turns raping her.
“They threw me out of the flat almost naked, I knocked on a door seeking help to cover myself but the woman who opened up refused to help and sent me away. I had no choice but to go to the street then took a taxi to the police station and reported the incident,” she said.
Police arrested five of the men suspected of being involved shortly after the incident while MS was arrested in July this year.
The next hearing will be on September 27 to summon the defendant.
salamir@thenational.ae
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