Student cleared of having under-age sex with 14-year-old girl in car

The 19-year-old was charged over having sex in his Mercedes-Benz but he was acquitted and then prosecutors lost their appeal against the verdict.

DUBAI // A 19-year-old student has beaten a prosecution appeal against his acquittal from charges of having sex with an under-age girl.

Dubai Criminal Court heard last August that the 14-year-old Emirati girl had ran away from her house in the early hours of April 12 last year. When she returned, her parents said they discovered that she had been with fellow Emirati S A.

He was charged with sexual assault and failed to appear at his first hearing but he showed up for later hearings and he denied the charge.

“My mother woke me up after she noticed my daughter was not in her bed,” said A J, 33, the girl’s soldier father, who reported his daughter missing at Al Qusais police station.

When questioned by prosecutors, the girl said she had met the student online three months earlier and he often asked to meet her.

On the day of the alleged incident, she said they had sex twice in the back seat of his Mercedes-Benz while parked in Jumeirah.

According to UAE criminal code, having sex with a girl 14 and under is considered under force. S A said they only kissed.

The court found him not guilty of the charge in November due to a lack of evidence but prosecutors appealed the verdict and lost after Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal yesterday.