Mechanic in Dubai acquitted over maid rape and kidnap charges

The 60-year-old man was earlier accused of kidnapping and raping an Ethiopian maid on September 20, last year.

DUBAI // A mechanic has been acquitted on charges of kidnapping and rape after a court ruled the sex was consensual.

SE, a 60-year-old Emirati defendant, was accused of kidnapping TG, a 33-year-old Ethiopian maid, on September 20 last year. Prosecutors said he posed as a policeman then took her to a remote area and raped her.

When he appeared in court last February, the defendant denied all charges and said the case was malicious because they had been dating for over a month.

"She is a bad woman, she went out with me willingly more than six times," he told the Dubai Criminal Court. "Why would she report me now? I don't want a lawyer, your honour. I confess here and now."

The maid told police she was returning from a shopping trip when a white 4x4 pulled up alongside her.

"The driver grabbed me by the hand, took the bags I was holding and threw them inside the car then tried to force me in," she said. "He said he was a policeman."

SE then drove her to a remote area and raped her before splashing water on her face and telling her to tell her sponsor she was feeling unwell so she wouldn't suspect anything.

TG said she arrived home crying and informed her sponsor what happened and the sponsor took her to police to report the incident.

Policeman AS, 40, testified that DNA traces taken from the victim matched those of the defendant. "When we confronted him with the DNA results, he confessed but said it was with the woman's consent," said AS.

Policeman MN, 52, said SE claimed the woman had followed him to his car after he left the shopping centre and asked him to give her a lift.

"He told me that when she got into his car, she started touching him," said MN.

The defendant was acquitted of rape and kidnap but was convicted of having consensual sex outside of wedlock and sentenced to a year in prison.