Dubai: An army corporal has been accused of having sex with his housemaid against her will after he asked her to clean his uniform.

The 37-year-old Emirati corporal was said to have handed his uniform to the 29-year-old Filipina to wash it. He is accused of then dragging the woman into his bedroom, where he removed her clothes and forced her to have sex with him in November 2013.

Prosecutors charged the suspect with having sex with the woman against her will and sexually molesting her.

“Not guilty... I didn’t have sex with her,” said the suspect when he entered his plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.

Meanwhile, his lawyer told presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat in courtroom three: “We want to hear prosecution witnesses and we also have defence witness. We ask for the court’s permission to obtain from Etisalat a report about the exchanged phone calls and SMSs between the claimant and the suspect.”

When the judge queried the request, the lawyer said the report would “prove that the housemaid is the one who invited my client to her room. She also tried to extort money from him when she complained. She blackmailed him and asked for money to waive her accusation.”

The Filipina testified to prosecutors that she was washing her sponsor’s uniform when the incident took place. “He arrived home at 3pm and directly handed me his dress for washing,” she said. “When he learnt that there was nobody at home, the suspect pulled me and forced me into his bedroom. He pinned me down to the floor, removed my clothes and had sex with me. He also had bizarre sex with me. As soon as he finished, he went to the bathroom to wash, so I rushed to my bedroom and locked myself inside. He came and repeatedly knocked the door... but I did not answer. He apologised to me in English but I asked him to leave me alone. When he left by car, I immediately rushed out of the house and went to the Philippines consulate.”

Records said consulate staff referred the woman to the recruitment agency that flew her into Dubai.

One of the agency’s Filipino staff rushed the woman to hospital, where she was advised to report the incident to police.

An officer told prosecutors that the Filipina guided them to her sponsor’s residence in Oud Al Mutainah.

“The suspect at first refused to open the door,” said the policeman. “After obtaining prosecutors’ permission to arrest the defendant, one of the policemen climbed the villa’s wall and opened the door from inside. We examined the bedroom where the alleged incident took place. The suspect was taken into custody. During questioning, he admitted that he had sex with the housemaid.”

Presiding judge Abdul Lat turned down the suspect’s request for bail. The trial continues.