Drunk man who tried to rape model in her apartment is jailed

DUBAI// A drunken man who sneaked into a model’s apartment and placed a plastic bag over her head before attempting to rape her has been jailed for three years.

The 35-year-old Moroccan victim was washing clothes in her bathroom when the man entered her home, Dubai Criminal Court was told.

Her front door was unlocked as her sister had gone to buy groceries.

“I heard the door open and thought my sister had returned but was shocked when I saw a man standing outside my bathroom,” she said.

Her attacker, an unemployed 27-year-old who holds a Comoros Islands passport, placed a plastic bag over the woman’s head. When was able to remove it he pulled her hair and started hitting her, demanding they have sex.

The victim told prosecutors he then threw her to the floor as she screamed for help.

“He tried to undress me with one hand while strangling me with the other, but my sister arrived and grabbed him by the back of his shirt,” said the woman.

The sister, 37, said she tried to hold onto the man until police arrived but he managed to escape by jumping out of the window.

He was arrested shortly afterwards.

“He told me he was drunk and after leaving a nightclub he saw the woman and followed her home then decided to rob her home,” said an Emirati policeman.

The officer said the man confessed to entering the apartment at 8pm on February 6 this year, believing it was empty, but fought with the woman when she tried to stop him from running away.

In court last May, the man denied charges of trespassing, attempted rape and consuming alcohol without a licence.

However, he was convicted of all charges and sentenced to three years in jail to be followed by deportation.