Rapist has jail term doubled by Dubai Appeal Court

Pakistani was convicted of robbing and raping a female friend.

DUBAI // A man convicted of robbing and raping a female friend will spend the next 10 years in prison after his jail term was doubled by the Dubai Court of Appeal.

The 27-year-old Pakistani, who denied charges of rape and theft at Dubai Criminal Court in August last year, was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail to be followed by deportation.

He appealed against the sentence but lost. The appeals court increased his prison term to 10 years.

“I didn’t rape her, the sex happened with her consent, and as for the theft she deliberately left her bag in my car to frame me and blackmail me,” he told judges.

The rapist befriended the Filipina saleswoman on WhatsApp several months before the incident on June 6 last year.

“He invited me to suhoor and picked me up from home at around 1.30am,” said the 32-year-old victim, adding the defendant stopped his car in a deserted area, grabbed her by the hair and assaulted her before ripping off her clothes and raping her as she cried and begged him to stop.

“He stole my bag with my phone and bank cards in it to prevent me from calling police,” said the woman, who was then thrown out of the car in Al Mutainah.

A security guard rushed to help her. “The car’s door was still open as it sped off,” said the Sri Lankan, adding the woman was crying and screaming “help me, help me”.

The guard gave her his phone to call police.

The rapist was later arrested and the woman’s bag was found in his apartment. “He told me he deleted all data related to him from the woman’s phone so that we don’t get to him,” said a policeman.

DNA found on the woman’s clothes matched the Pakistani’s.

He will be deported after serving his 10-year jail sentence.