Arab man cleared of sexual assault charge

Ihab Atta, Staff Reporter

The Dubai criminal court acquitted an Arab, 23, of the charge of assaulting an Asian cleaner, 27, who claimed he had taken advantage of her need for work, tricked her into a hotel room and assaulted her.

According to the case papers, the victim said she was looking for extra work for money.

When she was reportedly on her way to a salon for an interview, the suspect stopped her and asked about her name and destination, and she told him she was going to a job interview. He then told her his aunt had a company and was looking for an employee. She gave him her phone number and headed to the salon for the interview but she was told the manager would be back after 3 days.

She added, “I received a phone call from the man telling me his aunt wanted to meet me. He came to pick me up and he asked me to sit on the front seat next to him. Then he tried to molest me but I stopped him.” Then they headed to the hotel where she accompanied him to the room he claimed to be the company’s headquarters. He also said his aunt was waiting for her, and once she entered, he locked the door and assaulted her.

Last month, a jury sentenced a building’s watchman to 25 years in jail  for habitually raping a mentally challenged teen whenever her mother went her way.

The Asian defendant, 21, sexually assaulted the 18-year-old Iraqi victim inside her mother’s apartment on several occasions in August last year, taking advantage of her mental illness and the absence of her mother.

Besides rape, prosecutors accused him of violating the family apartment’s privacy by entering without permission with intent to rape. He had a spare key he used to gain access whenever the mother left for work.

Before police and prosecutors, he confessed to have abused her “thrice only.” But, in court he denied the rape and trespassing charges. The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced him to 25 years in jail to be followed by deportation.

In prosecution records, the teen’s mother, 52, narrated that she moved with her daughter and mother to the apartment in Al Rifa’a in February. She wanted to change the apartment lock but the defendant protested the move.

He instead handed her a key and kept a spare key for himself. “I noticed my daughter was relentlessly crying.

“She had also lost appetite. I did not know the reasons. I lured her to a discussion on the evening of September 11.”