DUBAI // A soldier who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl then claimed to be suffering from mental health problems to escape punishment has had his sentence reduced by Dubai Court of Appeal.
Emirati K A, 23, was jailed for one year at Dubai Criminal Court in January but on Sunday morning he got that sentence reduced to three months.
He was not present at the initial trial so his lawyer told the court of his mental health issues but he failed to present official documents to support the claim.
The 13-year-old Emirati girl knew the defendant through her cousin and, after several phone calls over almost a month, the two agreed to meet.
On October 4 last year, the teenager met K A in the car park of Mirdif City Centre at about 11pm. She said the two kissed and agreed to meet the next day.
At 8pm the following day, the defendant picked the girl up from near a beauty salon in Al Warqa.
“He took me to a hotel in Kalba and there we had sex,” said the girl.
She spent the night with the defendant and the following morning, after the soldier went to work, she called her uncle to pick her up and take her home but he instead took her to a police station.
A forensic lab report said that the girl had not had sexual intercourse, and there was no DNA of the soldier found on her body.
However, prosecutors said that K A confessed to a charge of sexual assault during investigations.
He was sentenced to one year in jail, which will now be reduced to three months.
salamir@thenational.ae
