Dubai: A court has dismissed the civil lawsuit that a French woman visitor lodged against a man, whom she accused of raping her under duress in his car’s back seat.
The 25-year-old Emirati man, S.S., had refuted prosecutors’ accusation that he raped the 22-year-old Frenchwoman after beating and threatening her in August.
The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced S.S. to three months in jail for the sex charge and acquitted him of threatening and beating the woman after his lawyer Hashem Malek Al Beloushi disclosed that his client had been having a year-long affair with the visitor.
Lawyer Al Beloushi argued in court that some WhatsApp images confirm that his client was having a love affair with the Frenchwoman and he did not rape her.
“The court has dismissed the civil lawsuit lodged by the claimant, who will have to pay lawyers and court fees,” said presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi in court on Sunday.
The defendant’s seized mobile phone contained images on WhatsApp of him and the woman in compromising situations that clearly explained the intimacy of the relationship they had, contended the lawyer.
“On the day of the incident, S.S. had consensual sex with her. They had been having a year-long love affair,” said Al Beloushi.
Prosecutors had charged S.S. with raping the Frenchwoman in his car after beating and threatening to kill her and leave her body in the desert.
“Forensic examiners countered the Frenchwoman’s claims that she was a virgin. She alleged that my client raped her at knifepoint, but not a single knife cut or scratch was found on her body when she was examined. Her statement was full of lies and contradictions,” argued Al Beloushi.
The Frenchwoman [who hails from an Arab country] claimed in court that she did not know Arabic while her police statement was registered in Arabic, the lawyer pointed out.
In her statement, the 22-year-old testified that she became acquainted with S.S. in 2013 before she met him again in August 2014.
“He picked me up from Nad Al Sheba and took a desert route, stopping in the middle of nowhere. I rejected his sexual advances and begged him to let me go. He assaulted me and threatened to kill me if I did not surrender … he raped me at knifepoint. He threatened to kill me if I told anyone what had happened,” she claimed.
According to reports, after the Emirati dropped the Frenchwoman to her car, she drove towards Jumeirah and called the police.
“Her statement was full of fabrications and contradictions. She dated my client more than seven times. She claimed that she had never had sex with S.S. but a defence witness countered her allegations. My client got married in March and we are seeking to acquit him of rape or having his rape charges modified to consensual sex. We ask the court to hand him a lenient sentence,” concluded Al Beloushi.
The Frenchwoman, whose civil lawsuit was dismissed on Sunday, was seeking Dh20,000 in temporary compensation.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
