DUBAI // A taxi driver who was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail for raping a mentally impaired 18-year-old in a hotel after she failed to pay the fare, must see out his prison term, the Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday.
Pakistani A K, 33, was sentenced by Dubai Criminal Court in January. The court was told in a previous hearing that the victim, who holds a Comoros Islands passport, had been travelling from her home in Sharjah to the Burj Khalifa on November 7, 2013.
She took a cab for the final leg of the journey. When A K found out she had no money, he took her to a hotel in Naif where he raped her.
“He took me in his taxi and gave me Dh50 then dropped me off somewhere I didn’t know,” the teenager said.
“He told me he will be back but he didn’t come, so I went to the nearest supermarket and called police.”
A medical report confirmed that the victim was not aware of her actions nor responsible for them owing to a mental problem caused by injuries sustained in a traffic incident when she was two years old.
A K denied the charge when questioned by police.
“She got into the car and asked me to take her to a hotel – she didn’t say which hotel – then she told me she wanted me to have sex with her, so I said OK,” he said.
He chose the hotel in Naif because he often took customers there. He will be deported after completing his sentence.
tzriqat@thenational.ae