Two men jailed for kidnapping and molesting jobseeking woman have sentences reduced

Pakistani pair picked up the Filipina in a car and then pounced on her in a quiet area by a roadside, tying her up with phone charger wires.

DUBAI // Two men handed life terms in jail for kidnapping, molesting and robbing a woman after they promised her a job won their appeal against their sentences.

Dubai Criminal Court convicted the Pakistani pair, aged 30 and 32, of kidnap, confinement, sexual assault and attempted rape, as well as robbery and issuing threats to the Filipina. But after appealing, the sentences were reduced to 10 years each.

The woman arrived in the country in May last year and started looking for a job. She spotted a post on Dubizzle from a contracting company looking to hire a female employee.

“I emailed them,” said the 37-year-old, who missed a call about the job on May 25 last year but answered another the next day.

“It was one of the two men who called me and said he saw my CV and wanted to meet me for an interview.”

She waited for him at a bus station in Bur Dubai, as he had requested, adding that he arrived at about 1.30pm in a blue car.

“The other man was in the car when I got in and I was told we were going to Abu Dhabi, where the company is located, in order to have the interview,” she said.

Both men started flirting with her and one of them told her he loved her from first sight and wanted to marry her. He then lifted her and forced her to sit on his lap.

The pair stopped the car at a quiet spot on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi motorway and the men used phone charger wires to tie her up before taking turns to molest her.

They stole Dh300 that was in her bag and a mobile phone. Then the pair unbuttoned her shirt and lowered her trousers and underwear.

When she resisted them, the two threatened her and ordered her to be cooperative and quiet.

“I tried to open the door and run away but it was locked,” she said, adding that she resisted them but they gave up trying to rape her when they found out she was menstruating.

Both men denied all charges in both courts last month.

Dubai Criminal Court sentenced them to life followed by deportation but Dubai Court of Appeal overturned the sentence and handed them a 10-year jail terms each. They will still be deported after serving their sentences.