Dubai: A British teacher’s rape allegation was proved to be a lie and a court modified the charge to consensual sex and overturned a defendant’s 10-year imprisonment to three months.
In August, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the 30-year-old Nigerian man for 10 years after he was convicted of assaulting and raping the British teacher after he forced his way into her studio flat at Dubai Silicon Oasis.
The Nigerian had pleaded not guilty and accused the woman of fabricating the rape allegations contending that he had consensual sex with her in her flat in January.
“The woman’s rape claims were nothing but a lie. She lied about her being raped and she gave an inconsistent and unfounded statement. When she was examined before the Appeal Court, she exposed herself … she had lied about the fact that my client forced his way into her flat. She is the one who allowed him in and had consensual sex with him,” the Nigerian’s lawyer Faisal Al Zarouni argued before the appellate court.
In his appeal before the Appeal Court, advocate Al Zarouni asked the court to overturn the 10-year jail term and modify the accusation to having consensual sex.
Presiding judge Eisa Mohammad Al Sharif dismissed the rape accusation and modified the charge to consensual sex and jailed the Nigerian for three months.
“The court has also acquitted the defendant of forcing his way into the woman’s flat and assaulting her. The defendant has been found guilty of having consensual sex with the woman,” said presiding judge Al Sharif.
The appellate court said the Nigerian will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
When she appeared before the primary court, the Briton sought Dh21,000 in temporary compensation against the damages she claimed to have suffered following the alleged assault and rape.
When he appeared before the Appeal Court, the 30-year-old defendant repeatedly said that they had consensual sex and maintained that he didn’t rape the woman.
The Briton had alleged in her testimony that the incident happened around 3am shortly after she ran into the accused in the lift of the building where she stayed. “I thought he lived in the same building … he followed me when I walked out. Though he said he wanted to ensure that I reached home safely, I asked him to stop chasing me. He forced his way into my flat, assaulted me and raped me after he carried me to the bed,” she claimed.
Al Zarouni said in his defence that the claimant was drunk when she complained to the police and her alcohol test showed that she had 27mg/dl in her system.
“This is a fabricated rape case … it was consensual. She lied. She didn’t want the police to accuse her of having consensual sex and drinking alcohol and that was why she made up the rape allegation,” he argued before the appellate court.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 25 days.
