Waiter found not guilty of raping tourist

A man who was accused of raping a tourist he had promised to help find work was acquitted on Sunday.

DUBAI // A waiter accused of raping a tourist he had promised to help find work was acquitted on Sunday.

At the Dubai Criminal Court in April, Nigerian R O, 33, who worked as a waiter at the Dubai International Finance Centre, denied rape charges.

Prosecutors did not say how he met his accuser, a Ugandan, but said that on the morning of January 22 he picked her up from a petrol station in Al Muhaisnah 4 area to take her to a job interview.

She said they went to a nearby building where he told her to wait in reception while he went up to an office upstairs.

When she went to the office: “I was shocked,” she said. “It was a one-bedroom apartment not an office, then he brought me a white shirt and asked me to change into it so he could take my picture for work purposes.”

The woman took off her shirt in front of him and after he took her picture she agreed to give him a massage.

“I did so because I was afraid of him,” she said.

She claimed he then raped her, before giving her Dh50 to take a taxi home.

R O was arrested after he voluntarily went to the police station. He denied all of the accusations during questioning by police officers.