DUBAI // A red-toothed sex pest was caught by police who matched a shoe left at the scene of an attack to his accomplice, a court heard today.
PP, 26, from India, and PA, 22, from Bangladesh, attacked and robbed a woman in her apartment building after pestering her for sex, believing her to be a prostitute.
They beat the woman up before running off with her handbag, but were soon tracked down by police. The first man was identified by his distinctive red tooth while the second man was arrested after police asked him to try on a shoe found at the scene of the attack. Officers said the shoe fitted the man "perfectly".
Prosecutors told the Criminal Court that the attack occurred shortly after midnight on December 24 last year when the woman, from Uganda, was returning to her apartment.
"How much do you charge for sex, [the red-toothed man] asked me and I told him to go away because I don't have sex for money," recalled the woman. She said the man persisted in pestering her for sex until she got into a lift in her apartment building.
As the door was closing the red-toothed man snatched the strap of her handbag and tried to yank it away, pulling the woman to the floor. He then dragged the woman out of the lift and punched and kicked her before running away with his accomplice.
A passerby heard the woman's screams and called police who arrived minutes later.
The woman told the officers one of her attackers lost a shoe as he was running away. Police found the item of footwear nearby.
The police then drove the woman around the local area to look for the men and found the red-toothed man outside a supermarket. He claimed they had the wrong man.
"I told the officers to have him show me his teeth and when he did, I saw the red tooth. It was him, I was 100 per cent sure," recalled the woman.
His accomplice was arrested in a nearby flat where a group of bachelors were living. After his arrest, and before the woman identified him, the police made him try on the shoe they found at the crime scene.
Both men denied charges of forceful theft.
A verdict was scheduled for May 30.
salamir@thenational.ae