Driver denies charges of trying to kidnap, rape maid

Dubai: A driver denied charges of impersonating a policeman and trying to kidnap and rape a housemaid.

Prosecutors accused the 28-year-old Pakistani driver — currently serving two jail terms after his conviction in two similar, yet separate cases — of posing as a policeman and luring a 27-year-old Bangladeshi housemaid into his minibus where he attempted to rape her.

"I am not guilty. The accusations are not true," argued the defendant, O.K., when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday.

When the defendant pleaded not guilty, Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout adjourned the case until October 12. A lawyer will be assigned to defend him.

According to the arraignment sheet, O.K. impersonated a policeman and asked the housemaid for her identification documents.

When 27-year-old M.T. said she noticed that he wore a uniform and had a badge on his chest, what she thought was a police ID, she jumped into his minibus thinking that he would take her to the police station to check her documents.

Prosecutors said the defendant drove to a deserted villa in Jumeirah and parked in a narrow alley. They said O.K. then forcibly undressed the maid and tried to rape her.

When a stranger interfered and foiled O.K.'s attempt to rape the housemaid, she ran away.

M.T. said she met O.K. around 1 am as she was walking home.

"He drove his vehicle in front of me and when he said ‘hello' I [ignored] him... He pulled over and claimed that he worked for the immigration [department]," M.T. told the court.

"He presented what he claimed to be an ID and I didn't recognise what was written on it because I was terrified. He made ride with him claiming that we were heading to the police station... He drove towards Al Wasl Road. While driving I refused his request to kiss him," she said.

"He squeezed his minibus between two walls so I could [disembark] ... then he touched my thighs and moved onto my seat wanting to have sex with me. When I refused, he beat me and then he undressed and tried to rape me ... Suddenly something flashed in front of us," she added.

Escape

"He went back immediately to his seat. A strange man walked towards him and they quarrelled. In the meantime, I escaped from the rear window."

A Somali policeman testified that a number of women, including M.T., complained that they had been raped or molested in the same manner. Investigations led to the arrest of O.K.

In one of the other cases, O.K. was convicted of raping a Sri Lankan housemaid in a deserted villa after impersonating a policeman.