DUBAI // A man who was spared rape charges after the victim dropped charges against him, lost his appeal against three months in jail on molestation charge.
The 28-year-old Kenyan was initially charged with raping his neighbour after offering her a lift home from a night out with friends, which he denied at Dubai Criminal Court in April.
He provided judges with a document stating the woman dropped charges against him, but it was not accepted by the court because the document was a copy and not the original. On a following hearing, he submitted an original document and the court dismissed the rape charge but he was still charged and convicted of molestation.
He was sentenced to three months in jail to be followed by deportation, which he appealed. However, the Appeals Court rejected his plea and ruled that he serves the term and be deported afterwards.
On December 8 last year, the 24-year-old victim, also Kenyan, invited a group of compatriots to her apartment in Al Satwa.
The attacker joined the party then the group moved to the home of one of the partygoers near the Iranian Hospital because he had alcohol.
“We went to his place at nearly 10.30pm and after drinking alcohol, I wanted to leave,” said the woman. She said she got into a car along with the convict and another man because they lived in the same neighbourhood.
She was molested by the man on the way. When they got to her building, she refused his request to have sex. She said the two men restrained her while the accused raped her on the back seat.
“I got out of the car and got to my apartment, I went to the shower because I was bleeding and afterwards I called police,” she told investigators.
An Emirati police officer said the woman was scared, confused, and did not know what to do at the time, so she tried to contact the two men who were with her in the car but when she failed to get in touch with them after the incident, she called police.
A medical report showed the woman had recently had sex but could not determine if the act was consensual or not.
The man was also found guilty of consuming alcohol without a licence. He will be deported after completing his term.
salamir@thenational.ae