Dubai: A student, who was earlier convicted of kidnapping and raping his wife-to-be, had his life sentence commuted to 10 years in jail after his lawyer argued that it was ‘consensual sex’.
The Dubai Appeal Court on Sunday accepted the appeal of the 24-year-old Emirati student, F.Q.,to acquit him or have his primary judgement [life in prison] reduced contending that he had consensual sex with his 29-year-old wife-to-be.
Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif reduced the life imprisonment to ten years in jail.
The Emirati woman alleged to prosecutors that F.Q. lured her to visit what he described as their ‘marriage house’ before he used physical force, beat and pushed her into a bedroom where she claimed he raped her. The woman alleged also that he molested her and took snapshots of her naked. The defendant’s lawyer argued before the appellate court that his client did not kidnap or rape the woman.
The lawyer said that the woman willingly visited his client’s house and went up with him to the bedroom where they had consensual sex like a married couple.
The advocate asked the court to drop the charge of kidnap against his client because the claimant drove her car to the defendant’s villa and parked it inside.
Prosecutors accused F.Q. of abusing his relationship with his countrywoman after he promised to marry her. Then he was said to have lured her to what he called their ‘marriage house’ before he used physical violence, grounded her in a bedroom and raped her.
The reasons why the life sentence was reduced to 10 years’ imprisonment remained undisclosed as the appellate judgement requires nearly two weeks to be typed.
Sunday’s judgement remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.
The accused denied kidnapping his countrywoman, dragging her by force into a villa after he claimed that he wanted to show her their marriage house.
F.Q. also denied the accusation of assaulting the woman and forcing her to go up to the first floor where he raped her.
The lawyer further defended that the woman agreed to go up to his client’s room and stayed there from 8.30am to 4pm.
Prosecutors said the woman was said to have agreed to see the house without being aware of the suspect’s intentions.
The victim claimed to prosecutors that she didn’t switch off her car’s engine as she did not plan to stay long.
Prosecutors said the accused dragged the woman to the first floor and compelled her to undress before he raped her. He beat her and threatened to tear off her abaya and send her back home where her parents would ask her what had happened.
Prosecution records said F.Q. slapped the woman repeatedly and grabbed her by the back of her neck when she tried to resist him and leave the room.
Records said the suspect is a friend of a brother of the woman.
