DUBAI // A woman was kidnapped, robbed and raped and then sold into prostitution after she accepted a ride home from a man she did not know, the Dubai Criminal Court has been told.
Filipina A D, 32, was waiting for a taxi in Al Quoz when a car pulled up and offered her a lift to her home in Motor City in return for cash, the court heard.
The woman climbed into a rear seat. A short time later, the driver stopped at a petrol station and picked up two other men.
“Minutes later, one of them started molesting me. I tried to move away, but I was in the middle between the two,” said A D, adding one of the men took his clothes off.
A D offered them money and valuables in return for releasing her, but her pleas were ignored. All three then took turns raping her in the back of the car.
The victim told prosecutors that after the rape she tried to escape from the car, but was stopped when one of the men grabbed her leg.
“After my escape attempt, they tied both my hands and beat me up,” she said.
The men then took A D’s phone and cash before stopping at a shopping centre, where a woman got into the car with them.
“She told me that I would have to go with her to work as a prostitute. When I refused, she said it was my only option as the other was to leave me with the three men,” A D said.
They then drove to a villa where “I found another victim, also Filipina, locked up there”, A D said.
The villa’s front door was locked and guarded by two men. One of them, A D said, had sex with her and she was too scared to refuse.
“After the sex, he slept, so I climbed to a small opening in the kitchen wall and crawled out of the very small hole with much difficulty, then hid under a lorry the entire night,” said A D, who, in the morning, stopped a passer-by and asked for help. The man called police, who were able to track down the men from the car after checking CCTV cameras at the petrol station.
Bangladeshis M A, 30, and, A J, 33, were arrested at Sharjah Airport while returning to the country. Police are still searching for the third suspect. M A and A J were charged with rape, kidnap, robbery, issuing threats and human trafficking.
“They confessed to raping the woman and said they sold her for Dh3,000 and also asked the buyer to pay them Dh100 for petrol,” said Emirati policeman M A, 40.
Forensics confirmed that A D had been subjected to a forceful sex act.
salamir@thenational.ae
