DUBAI // An unemployed 32-year-old man denied at Dubai Criminal Court on Tuesday kidnapping a woman and taking her to his home to rape her.
“She is my girlfriend and she went out with me with of her own free will — I didn’t kidnap her,” said Emirati KS.
However, prosecutors said that in the early hours of May 1, he met the Ethiopian woman at a cafe before taking her home and trying to sexually assault her.
The woman told the court: “I was with my friend when he walked up to me, pulled me from my hand to his car then pulled my hair to push me into the car. I couldn’t resist him and when we got to his apartment he pulled me by the hair out of the car and into his residence.”
She added that a number of men were at his flat and, in front of them, he threatened to lock her up if she did not have sex with him.
“He took off his clothes and forced me to take mine off. I was resisting him, then he received a call, which made him get dressed again. He also got me dressed and took me out of his flat.”
The Ethiopian woman then went to a police station and reported him.
The woman who was sat with her at the cafe and who knows both the man and the woman, JS, 28, testified that the pair had been in a relationship for nearly two months. “When he came to the cafe and pulled her to his car, she did not scream or resist,” the Ethiopian said.
The Emirati man denied a kidnap charge and the next hearing will be on September 14.
salamir@thenational.ae
