Man denies raping woman at knifepoint in bathroom

Dubai: An American employee has denied raping a woman at knifepoint even as his compatriot "legal consultant" denied trying to compel her to drop her complaint, a court heard on Sunday.

Records said the 30-year-old employee forced the Canadian woman to have sex with him at knifepoint after he stripped her off her towel, which she was wearing after a shower in the house of the suspect's friend.

Meanwhile, the 27-year-old legal consultant was claimed to have tried to force her to waive the complaint, an accusation that he denied before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

"No... I didn't do it," argued the employee when he defended himself before Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir. The Public Prosecution charged the 30-year-old with intimidating the 33-year-old woman with a knife and causing her injuries after the alleged rape. The 27-year-old was charged with pushing the woman to drop her complaint under duress.

The complainant alleged: "The employee and his friend [not the 27-year-old] picked me up from Naif while I was waiting for a taxi to take me to a restaurant about 2am... We reached the building where the friend stays and they told me taxis are difficult to find late in that area. I agreeably went up to their flat on condition that none of them touches me. I asked to use the toilet for private biological purposes..." Records cited the woman claiming the American raped her in the bathroom.

"The 27-year-old later phoned me and claimed that he is a legal consultant... he warned me that if I proceed in the complaint the authorities will drag me into the case as a suspect for having consensual sex," alleged the woman.

The Emirati police corporal, to whom she complained, confirmed her statement. An Emirati Dubai police second lieutenant testified: "The 27-year-old posed as a lawyer and had a heated argument with the woman in the police station."