Rape allegations 'don't make sense', Abu Dhabi court hears

Defence lawyer argues a woman's account of a gang-rape by four men doesn't make sense.

ABU DHABI // A woman who accuses four men of gang-raping her must be lying as her account does not make sense, a defence lawyer told the Criminal Court yesterday.

The Uzbek woman filed a complaint against two Emiratis, a Saudi and an Omani claiming they gang-raped her in a car after she left a nightclub with them.

But the defence lawyer for the men, Nashwa Al Kubaissy, claimed yesterday that a forensics report proved the woman had not been raped.

"During police investigations, at first she refused to undergo a medical test, then the next day she was examined and the report proved there was no rape," said Mrs Al Kubaissy.

The lawyer added that the woman had changed her account. The woman initially claimed six men raped her, she said, adding: "Where are the six?"

Mrs Al Kubaissy said the woman pressed charges to blackmail the men into paying her money and withdrew her complaints later.

"Her tale is imaginary. She said she was smoking a cigarette while being raped, but where did she acquire the cigarette? And why didn't she scream?"

The lawyer went on to claim the police investigation was "not serious" and that confessions by the men were therefore not valid. "The defendants' confessions are a copy paste of the allegations," she said.

The men denied the charges in court, saying the woman asked them for a lift after partying at the same nightclub as them.

"As we drove we discovered she was drunk so we let her out of the car at the first signal," said one of the men.

Their lawyer pointed out that the men were all students and that none of them was older than 21, while the woman is older than 35. "She is too mature to fall victim and be scammed by them."

A verdict is expected on October 4.