Dubai: A man has been cleared of trespassing into a woman’s bedroom and raping her after threatening to set her residence on fire if she refused to have sex with him.
The 34-year-old Emirati man was facing charges of sneaking into his 23-year-old countrywoman’s bedroom where she claimed that he assaulted her before he forced her to have sex with him.
She claimed that she was petrified and afraid to lose her life when she reluctantly surrendered herself to M.H. in August 2014.
Citing lack of corroborated evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted M.H. of assaulting and threatening to kill the woman and to set her residence on fire if she did not sleep with him.
“I did not do that… I am not guilty. Actually, I am used to entering their house. I constantly go there. I entered her place consensually,” replied the Emirati.
Prosecutors said the acquitted suspect had surprised the woman in her bedroom, assaulted her and twisted her arm before he threw her on the bed and coerced her to have sex with him.
The 23-year-old woman, who is from Comoros Island, claimed to prosecutors that the suspect used a taser gun to wake her up around 2am.
“He had a knuckleduster that he put on the table beside my bed. He took away my mobile phones and did not answer me when I asked him how he had entered the house. He seemed abnormal. He asked me about my sister and when I told him that she had left, he asked me to call her… when I called my sister, she did not reply. I felt scared and cried and pretended to be sick to avoid being assaulted. M.H. agreed to take me to hospital… when we walked out, I saw my friend standing in the front yard. I had earlier asked her to come and sleep over after she finished work.
“When my friend asked me about the suspect, I did not reply so that he wouldn’t hurt her. Then I asked her to take me to the hospital… I threw myself on the ground to prevent M.H. from forcing me into his car. My friend left immediately while the suspect twisted my arm again and dragged me into the bedroom. He said he wanted to hurt me to anger my sister. Then he asked me to call my friend back so he could rape us together. When I called my friend, she refused to come. Then he pushed me on the bed and coerced me to undress before he raped me,” the woman claimed to prosecutors.
Prosecution records did not specify the nature of the relation between M.H. and the woman and/or her sister.
Records said the defendant cleaned and left the place while the woman waited for her sister’s return from Abu Dhabi before she went to hospital. Then they reported the matter to police.
Meanwhile the suspect’s lawyer countered what he described as the woman’s fabricated allegations. The lawyer asked the court dismiss the case against M.H. because the woman complained against him out of malice.
Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
