Dubai: A driver lost his appeal and will serve three years behind bars for attempting to rape a karate student, who beat him up using her martial arts techniques.

A brown belt karate student, the Georgian woman visitor used her fighting skills when she beat up the 23-year-old Pakistani driver and foiled his attempt to rape her after he lured her to his car in November 2015.

The woman was walking to a hotel in Bur Dubai with her friends to attend a birthday party when the accused overheard that she needed to buy flowers.

Instead of driving the woman to a florist, the defendant took her to a deserted area and, when he attempted to rape her in Al Rashidiya, she used her karate skills and beat him up.

In July, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the accused for three years for assaulting the woman, trying to rape her and stealing her wallet.

The defendant appealed the primary ruling and pleaded not guilty before the Dubai Appeal Court.

He said that she is the one who attacked him first while he acted in self-defence.

The presiding judge dismissed the defendant’s appeal and upheld his three-year jail term.

The accused will be deported following the completion of his jail term, according to the appellate ruling.

“I did not kidnap her. I did not try to have sex with her, but we had a heated argument. She beat me first. I defended myself. She was very drunk and beat me … I did not take her purse, but she forgot it in my vehicle after we fought. I returned it to her later,” the defendant argued in court.

The Georgian woman said the accused had overheard her talking to friends that she wanted to buy flowers.

“He drove for a long time and stopped in a dark area. He punched me and tried to remove my dress, wanting to have sex with me. I hit him back. Part of my shirt was ripped … when I tried to fix my dress, he tried to rape me again. I fought back and I hit him with my shoe. Then he rushed to his seat and drove away. My purse remained in his car. I went to my friend’s house around midnight and told her what had happened,” she testified.

A policeman said the driver was apprehended a few days after he was identified from the hotel’s CCTV cameras.

“He said during interrogations that he spotted the woman in the hotel lobby and she agreed to have sex with him for Dh500. He claimed that they quarrelled over the place where they were supposed to have sex … when she refused to have sex with him in his car, they fought,” said the policeman.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 21 days. a