Dubai: Two men and a woman, who sexually abused a 15-year-old girl by bringing her to Dubai to work as a dancer and forced her into prostitution, will be jailed for five years.
The Pakistani girl was contacted over the phone by her 27-year-old countrywoman, a housewife, who convinced her to work as a dancer at a nightclub in Dubai in January.
Once the teenager showed interest in the offer, a 32-year-old Pakistani clerk and his friend visited the teenager’s stepfather in Pakistan and made him agree to allow her to work as a dancer in Dubai.
The clerk processed the travel papers of the teenager who was brought to Dubai and housed in a flat in Naif.
On arrival, the girl was told that she would be working as a prostitute and not a dancer but she refused and asked to be sen back home. Once the girl was told that she had to pay Dh18,000 to those who had flown her in, she agreed to work as a prostitute.
Dubai Police’s anti-human trafficking department freed the girl following an informant’s tip-off that the girl was being forced to work as a prostitute in an apartment that was being run as a brothel.
Dubai Police tasked the informant to visit the apartment and pose as a client as a part of a sting operation. Police raided the apartment and apprehended the housewife and a 25-year-old Pakistani woman visitor along with the two men, 32 and 38.
In July, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the two male defendants and the 27-year-old woman of human trafficking, sexually abusing the teenager and forcing her into a prostitution. They were also found guilty of running a brothel.
They were jailed five years each and fined Dh20,000 as well.
The trio appealed their punishments before the Dubai Appeal Court and sought to have their punishments reduced.
The appellate court upheld the defendants’ jail terms and deportation orders.
However, presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif cancelled the trio’s fines of Dh20,000.
The 25-year-old Pakistani woman, who was convicted of prostitution, also lost her appeal and had her three-year imprisonment upheld. She will also be deported.
The four accused pleaded not guilty.
The girl said her stepfather agreed to send her to work as a dancer in a nightclub.
“They changed my age in the passport to arrange my travel documents for coming to Dubai. When I reached Dubai, I was told that I will be working as a prostitute and not as a dancer. When I refused to do so, they told me that they would bar me from contacting my family back home and that I had to pay Dh18,000 that they alleged to have paid for bringing me to Dubai. So I had to agree to work as a prostitute. Two defendants, a male and a female, used to bring clients and give the proceeds to the [32-year-old] suspect,” the girl said.
A police corporal said the defendants were apprehended in a sting operation at the flat.
Two more suspects remain at large.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court.
