Rapist’s 15-year jail sentence upheld by Dubai court

DUBAI // A man’s 15-year jail sentence for kidnapping and raping a woman was upheld by the Dubai Court of Appeal on Monday.

At Dubai Criminal Court last January, ZH, 41, a Pakistani driver, denied charges of kidnap, rape, sexual assault and posing as a CID officer and claimed that the victim willingly got into his car and offered him sex in return for cash.

He appealed the guilty verdict against him.

“It was all with her consent and when we finished, she was no longer happy about the amount of money we agreed on so she got out of the car and went to police saying I kidnapped and raped her,” ZH said at both, criminal and appeal courts.

The Ugandan victim, a 28 year-old saleswoman, told prosecutors that she was waiting for a taxi after midnight on August 8 last year when the driver approached her.

“I was standing on front of a mosque in Al Hamriya when a minivan stopped next to me, the driver asked me why I was standing there so I said I was waiting for a taxi, he then offered me a lift and I took the seat next to him,” said the woman.

She said they started chatting about her work and nationality after which ZH parked the van in a remote area and started making some phone calls.

“He was talking in Arabic so I didn’t understand anything but then he showed me an ID saying he was a policeman,” said the woman.

She said ZH touched her body so she screamed at him and asked him not to but he did not listen. Prosecutors said the woman offered ZH Dh200 to let her go but he refused. He then pulled her into the back of his mini van and raped her.

“I was crying and begging the entire time,” said the victim.

ZH then drove her back to where he had picked her up at around 2.30am. “He gave me his phone numbers so we can keep in touch,” she said.

She went to police nine hours later and reported ZH for rape. Police arrested the man on August 19.

ZH will be deported after completing his jail term.