Dubai police track rape suspect down after 19 months

Dubai: A man charged with kidnapping and raping a female visitor landed back in court on Sunday after absconding for 19 months.

The 25-year-old Emirati suspect pleaded not guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance after Dubai police tracked him down.

He was initially charged along with two other men, who have since been sentenced.

On December 27, 2006, the 35-year-old Iranian woman reported to police that 25-year-old N.H. and his two compatriots, 23-year-old E.A., and 30-year-old H.G., kidnapped her in Dubai and gang-raped her.

On August 28, 2007, the Court sentenced E.A. and H.G. to five years in jail each. They were fined Dh1,000 each for consuming liquor.

Hotel

N.H. on Sunday denied the kidnapping and rape charges before Presiding Judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm.

E.A. and H.G. previously also denied the charges and claimed they met the woman in a hotel in Dubai and had consensual sex with her. Both defendants alleged that she was a prostitute who agreed to sleep with them for money.

They were also charged with luring the girl into their car, threatening to kill her, beating her and consuming liquor.

The victim testified that the trio picked her up outside a hotel in Deira while she was waiting for a taxi.

"They lured me into the car and drove to a desert area in Umm Al Quwain where they repeatedly raped me, one at a time. I was beaten," testified the woman. She reported her ordeal to her husband who informed the police.