Dubai: A man lost his appeal and will spend two years behind bars for running a brothel and having consensual sex with one of the prostitutes who worked for him.
A 23-year-old Pakistani woman had walked into a police station where she alleged to the duty officer that her 25-year-old countryman had forced her into prostitution between March and April.
The duty officer summoned the 25-year-old man for questioning before further interrogations revealed that the woman had been working as a prostitute willingly.
Meanwhile, a 23-year-old Pakistani worker admitted to the duty officer that he had paid sex with the woman after he picked her up from a nightclub in Al Rifa’a.
In August, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the woman and her pimp for two years. The worker was jailed for six months for having paid sex with the woman.
The 23-year-old woman and the convicted worker did not appeal the primary judgement, unlike the 25-year-old defendant who did.
When he appeared before the Dubai Appeal Court, the 25-year-old defendant pleaded not guilty and denied the accusation of running a brothel in Al Ghusais.
Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected the appeal to reduce the punishment and upheld the two-year imprisonment against the 25-year-old.
The accused will be deported following the completion of his jail term.
Court records said the 25-year-old defendant and an unidentified suspect, who remains at large, ran a brothel in a flat in Al Ghusais and made the 23-year-old woman work as a prostitute.
A lieutenant at Dubai Police’s anti-human trafficking section said the woman walked into a police station where she alleged that she had been coerced to work as a prostitute.
“The duty prosecutor bailed out the woman and she was let go. We summoned the woman in her capacity as a potential human trafficking victim and she claimed that the 25-year-old defendant had forced her to work for him as a prostitute and coerced her to consume liquor. Primary interrogations revealed that she had been a frequent customer at a nightclub in Al Rifa’a. When we checked the police system we discovered that she had been tried for consuming alcohol previously in 2014. Further investigations also revealed that she was present at the hotel the night before her complaint. When we questioned the nightclub’s bouncer, he informed us that she was a regular customer and constantly drank alcohol on her own. Later we discovered that she had paid sex with the 23-year-old worker,” testified the lieutenant.
The 23-year-old was quoted as admitting to prosecutors that she worked in prostitution willingly and that she used to give the proceeds to the 25-year-old.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 25 days.
