Dubai: A jobless man has been accused of raping a woman twice and trying to force her into prostitution after she was brought to the country to work as a masseuse.

Prosecutors charged the 35-year-old Bangladeshi man, S.A., with beating and raping by force his 27-year-old countrywoman, L.B.

S.A. and his 26-year-old countrywoman, M.M., were jointly accused of bringing L.B. to Dubai then promising her work in massage centre before they sexually exploited her.

Two other Bangladeshi men, 23-year-old N.H. and 28-year-old R.I., were charged with aiding and abetting S.A. and M.M. commit a human trafficking crime.

“That is absolutely not true. I didn’t coerce her into prostitution. What happened is that I processed for her a visa and flew her in to work as a masseuse in a massage centre. I paid her for her job. Then she stole N.H.’s mobile phone… when I asked her about the mobile, she denied. When I slapped her twice, she admitted that she took the mobile that turned out to be in her bag. That was my only mistake that I slapped her,” argued S.A. when he defended himself before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

“How come you did not force her into prostitution although you confessed to that before prosecutors? You also admitted that you had sex with her against her will to force her into prostitution,” Presiding Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi asked S.A.

“That’s not true. I didn’t have sex with her. I only slapped her,” contended the 35-year-old.

According to the accusation sheet, S.A. and M.M. threatened the victim and locked her up in a flat where they forced her to have sex with strangers.

M.M. pleaded not guilty saying ‘I don’t know’.

Meanwhile, N.H. and R.I. entered an innocent plea and dismissed their accusations.

In her statement before prosecutors, L.B. alleged that she communicated with M.M. family in her homeland before she came to Dubai to work as a masseuse.

“S.A. picked me up from the airport. He took my passport and took me to a flat where I stayed with M.M. for ten days. They moved me to a flat behind the Bangladeshi Consulate… I worked as a masseuse for two months but I failed to communicate with the clients for language barriers. It was then when they decided to force me into prostitution. Initially I refused strongly and asked them to send me back home… S.A. raped me twice to force me into the sex trade. I was forced to sleep with customers as I was constantly beaten, threatened and locked up,” L.B. claimed.

An Emirati anti-human trafficking police captain testified that an informant alerted them that the suspects were involved in human trafficking.

“A policeman posed as a client and contacted one of the defendants. When the policeman entered the flat, a police squad raided the place. The suspects were arrested and L.B. was released,” said the captain.

The court will appoint lawyers to defend the suspects when it reconvenes on September 26.