Dubai: A prisoner, who was accused of raping a fellow inmate inside Dubai Central Jail, has been sentenced to jail for six more months for having consensual sex.
Prosecutors had charged the 20-year-old Emirati prisoner, M.M., of beating his countryman inmate and using physical violence to have sex with him after the latter refused to have consensual sex in June.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted M.M. of having consensual sex with the 20-year-old inmate after it modified the rape charge.
The prisoner entered a not guilty plea contending that he had consensual sex with the claimant.
When asked by presiding judge Mohammad Jamal if he had raped the inmate, the defendant replied: “I did not rape him… it was consensual sex. I have defence witnesses who can counter his allegations and confirm that it was consensual.”
The 20-year-old claimant alleged to prosecutors that he used to be friends with the defendant until the sex assault happened inside the cell they shared.
“We lived in the same neighbourhood in Al Mizher. We became close friends since we met inside prison and we shared the same cell. We chatted daily and about different issues.
"One day he came to me and said that I had once raped his relative. I challenged him to call his relative and ask him… but he never did.
"I had a feeling that he had fabricated that lie out of cruel intentions. He walked into the cell around 9.30pm, beat me, threw me on the bed and raped me after I refused to have consensual sex with him.
"I was afraid of the defendant and that he might hurt me. So I waited till the next morning when M.M. and others went for breakfast before I reported the matter to the prison management,” claimed the inmate.
Tuesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
