DUBAI // A housemaid who had just landed at Dubai airport was abducted and raped by a driver who claimed he was her sponsor.
Indonesian MS, 36, landed at the airport on October 4 last year and was waiting for her sponsor, who is from Al Ain, when Pakistani defendant NA, 42, approached her and said he was her sponsor.
The woman was taken to a remote area in Sharjah where she was assaulted, threatened and raped before being dumped in an urban area that she knew nothing about.
The Pakistani driver is charged with kidnap, rape, assault and issuing threats, all of which he denied in court.
“I was in the back seat then he stopped the car and sat near me and asked me to have sex with him,” said the maid.
“I said no, so he slapped me and threatened to kill me if I did not. I got so scared knowing no one here but I still said no to him. He then punched me and raped me.”
The woman was released near to Dubai airport but she did not know that until she stopped a passing car and asked its male driver.
“It was nearly 4am when I saw her waving from under a tree on the road,” said Filipino motorist EM, 46.
“I stopped, she asked me if this was Al Ain and I said it’s Dubai. She then asked to use my phone and, when she dialled a number and talked to someone, she started crying. I couldn’t understand anything from her language but I could see some bruises on her face.”
Police were called and the defendant was arrested having been found back at the airport.
Officers said he confessed to all charges but that he was drunk at the time.
When he was questioned by prosecutors, he denied all charges and did the same in court.
Forensic experts confirmed that the woman was raped and found traces of DNA in the back of the driver’s car that matched both him and the victim. The forensic report also said that the woman’s injuries were consistent with an assault.
The next hearing will be on February 8 to appoint a defence lawyer.
salamir@thenational.ae
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3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
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Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
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Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
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- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
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1 L Westwood (Eng), J Spieth (US)
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Feb 7-9: Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE
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