Dubai restaurant owner sentenced to life for kidnapping and raping waitress

Five other attackers are still at large, Dubai Police say in court records

A man was jailed for life and faces deportation after being found guilty of rape and kidnap at Dubai Criminal Court

A restaurant owner has been jailed for life for kidnapping a waitress and subjecting her to an eight-day ordeal during which she was raped by him and five other men.

The Chinese citizen employed the woman at his Dubai restaurant in September last year.

Three months later, on December 30, he kidnapped the waitress as she tried to leave the venue in International City, Dubai Criminal Court heard.

He took her to an apartment in the hope of starting a relationship with her. However, when she rejected him, he drove her to a villa, tied her up and, together with five other men, raped her for eight days.

“I told him that I love someone else and don't want to have an affair with him,” said the woman, whose age and name were not disclosed.

“He locked me inside the apartment for four days before taking me to an apartment in the Barsha area, where I saw a group of five men.”

The woman said the man, whose name was not stated in the records, beat and gang-raped her as she lay blindfolded, over a period of eight days.

“He threatened to harm me even more if I alerted the police,” she said.

The woman used her teeth to untie herself and escape the villa while her attackers slept.

A passer-by called an ambulance, which took her to hospital, where she was treated for her injuries.

“We moved to Rashid Hospital to check her condition,” said a police officer in testimony.

“She told me that she came to the UAE three months before the incident and that she worked in a restaurant with the defendant.”

The man was located and arrested. The five other attackers are still at large, Dubai Police said in court records.

Medical reports said the bruises and facial swelling on the victim's body were consistent with the woman's account of the attack.

The man was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, and will be deported after serving his jail term.