Dubai: A taxi driver has lost his appeal and will spend three years in jail for attempting to rape a passenger shortly after he dropped her home.
The Bangladeshi driver, T.H., picked up the 40-year-old Irish woman up from a hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road at 4am and took her to her Al Warqa’a residence.
Then he tricked the woman and forced his way into her flat where he tried to rape her three times and threatened to kill her as well if she reported him to the police.
The Dubai Appeal Court confirmed a three-year imprisonment against T.H. who was convicted of attempted rape, threat and theft. He also stole Dh200 from his victim.
Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm said the accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
The accused had pleaded not guilty and denied attempted rape and theft.
Records said shortly after he dropped the Irish woman in front of her building, T.H. took the woman’s contact number for future use. Afterwards he called her and invited himself into her home to give her back Dh50 that he claimed she had left in his taxi in February.
Court records said the accused repeatedly attempted to rape the woman in her flat and stole her Dh200, then threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone about what he did.
“I did not attempt to rape her and I did not threaten to kill her or steal her money,” he told the appellate court.
He contended that he entered the claimant’s flat because he wanted to do a good deed and claimed that she gave him the money as a reward.
“I walked into her place after she allowed me in when I asked her for water,” he said.
The Irish woman said the incident happened after she and her friend left a shisha cafe at the hotel.
“After he claimed that I had forgotten Dh50 in his taxi, I assured him that I had not. I told him to keep the money with the building’s security guard… but he asked for my flat number for reference. Then he was there at the doorstep … when I took the money from him, he forced his way inside and asked me for a glass of water. He came in despite having asked him to wait outside. When I failed to convince him to leave, he pulled me towards him. He tried to rape me in the sitting room, bedroom and washroom,” claimed the victim.
Records said the defendant took money from the woman’s purse and then threatened to kill her if she told anybody what happened.
A police lieutenant said the driver was arrested shortly after being identified through his workplace.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.
