DUBAI // A taxi driver who forced his way into an Irish expatriate’s apartment and tried to rape her was handed a three-year prison term on Sunday.
The Criminal Court heard that M L, a 40-year-old teacher, had been out with friends on February 1 and they shared a cab home at about 4am.
The driver, T K, a 26-year-old Bangladeshi, took her friends home first before continuing to her apartment in Al Warqa.
“On the way he started chatting with me and asking me where I was from and what my name was,” said M L.
As she was about to get out of the taxi, T K asked to exchange phone numbers so she could call him when she needed a taxi.
“About 20 minutes later he phoned me and said I had forgotten some money in his taxi,” said M L.
“I said I hadn’t, and I checked my purse and no money was missing, but he insisted I had left some money and said he was coming back to give it to me.”
She told him to leave the money with the security guard at her building, but he went to her apartment instead and rang the bell.
When she answered, he pushed the door open and forced his way in. “He gave me Dh50 that he said I had forgotten and then asked me for a drink of water. He then locked the door and told me I looked like his mother, who is really beautiful,” she said.
“He told me to call him son and I said to him that he was crazy and he had to leave, but he pulled me by my hand and pushed me to the floor.”
He then forced her into the bedroom, took money from her purse, then pushed her to the bed and tried to rape her.
“I resisted and pulled his hair then ran, but he pushed me and I fell into the bathroom, hitting my head on the bathtub,” she said.
T K tried again to rape her, but she fought him off and ran to the living room where she managed to force him to leave.
He then threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the incident. But after he left, she called a friend who advised her to call the police.
The taxi driver had denied charges of attempted rape, theft and issuing threats, saying M L had invited him into her house.
“She was my customer, and after I dropped her off I noticed she had forgotten some money in my car, so I returned to give it to her,” he said.
“She invited me into her flat and asked me to massage her shoulders. She was drunk at the time and started insulting me, so we argued and she gave me Dh200, after which I left.”
Policeman K A told the court that T K had been arrested shortly after the complaint was made. Police found traces of M L’s lipstick and make-up on the taxi driver’s shirt.
T K will be deported after completing his jail term.
salamir@thenational.ae
