Dubai: Four men acted as saviours as they swung into instant action and foiled a worker’s bid to rape a woman once they heard her cries for help at 10.30pm.

The Filipina accountant was waiting at a bus stop in Al Quoz area when the 24-year-old Pakistani worker allegedly caught hold of her and carried her quickly behind a truck parked nearby.

The worker pinned her to the back of the truck, according to records, in an attempt to remove her clothes. Not yielding easily to the man’s attempt to assault her, the accountant fought him back and pounded him with a stick that she grabbed from the floor.

In the meantime, the Filipina’s loud cries for help were heard by four persons of different nationalities and who rushed to her and saved her.

The woman’s clothes were partly torn, her knees were injured and she was crying, said records, when the saviours restrained the Pakistani and handed him over to the police once they arrived on the scene.

Prosecutors accused the suspect of attempted rape and drinking alcohol.

The 24-year-old suspect pleaded not guilty when he showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.

However, he contended before presiding judge Urfan Omar that he was too drunk to remember what he had done that night when the incident happened in July.

The accountant claimed to prosecutors that she sensed that the suspect was behaving strangely as he sat beside her at the bus stop. He then pulled her towards him.

“I moved away from him several times … and I even asked him to stand far from me and warned him that I would call the police. Suddenly, he carried me in his hands and took me behind a truck that was parked near the stop. He hugged me forcibly and groped me and it was obvious that he wanted to rape me. I beat him with a stick that I grabbed from the ground when he bent to remove my dress. A few men, who heard my cries for help, rushed towards us and they pulled him off me. The restrained him and called the police … I was crying when I asked them to get his identification papers. He managed to break loose and run away for a short distance before the men grabbed him again,” she testified to prosecutors.

One of the saviours, an Indian driver, claimed that he parked his car on the side of the road and rushed to save the woman and stop the suspect from raping her.

Two other saviours, Pakistanis, who live in a labour accommodation across the bus stop, testified to prosecutors that when they realised that the suspect was trying to undress the Filipina, they rushed to her help.

“I spotted him hugging and groping her while she cried and tried to break loose … it was quite obvious that he had intended to rape her. My friend and I ran quickly across the street and helped the Indian man in foiling the rape bid. When I grabbed the suspect, he slapped me and told me to let him go … I refused and told him that he had no right to force the woman to do anything against her will,” one of the Pakistanis claimed to prosecutors.

A policeman testified to prosecutors that once they reached the location, the suspect was already restrained by the four men, who had stopped him from raping the Filipina.

A ruling will be heard on September 28.