Man robbed and stripped woman in her Dubai apartment, court hears

The defendant is said to have climbed onto the woman's balcony at night and then forced her to strip naked as he threatened to kill her with a knife.

DUBAI // A woman ran out of her room naked to escape from a man who broke into her apartment to rob her and then forced her to strip naked, Dubai Criminal Court has been told.

P J, 28, from Sierra Leone, denied charges of armed robbery, sexual assault and trespassing when he appeared in court on Sunday morning.

“These allegations are false, I don’t know about any of these accusations and, no sir, I did not do them,” said the defendant to the presiding judge.

Prosecutors allege that on December 18 two years ago, the accused forced open the woman’s bedroom balcony door at about 2am.

“I woke up to some noise and found him standing right in front of me - I was terrified and started screaming,” said 25-year-old Filipino D L P.

The defendant allegedly gagged her then threatened to kill her with a knife he had. D L P said the man told her he would kill her if she was not quiet, after which he demanded that she hand over all her money.

“I gave him my purse, which had Dh400 in it, and a necklace I was wearing at the time. After that he told me he would kill me if I did not take off my clothes,” said the service agent.

She added that P J looked at her naked body for quite some time then told her to turn and face the wall. He then proceeded to search her apartment for valuables.

“At which point I ran out naked and took shelter in another bedroom where my flat-mates were sleeping and locked the door,” said D L P, who then called police.

The incident happened in Al Baraha, an area which the woman has since moved out of, the court heard.

The defendant was not arrested at the time but a few months later, D L P received a call from police to identify him, which she did. He was then referred to prosecutors, who said P J confessed to all charges during interrogations, though he now denies them in court.

The next hearing will be on February 23.