Emirati reports his out-of-wedlock affair

Dubai: An Emirati man who turned himself in and confessed to having consensual sex out of wedlock with his cousin, has married the 21-year-old woman, it has now emerged.

Even as the law prosecutes 27-year-old K.S. and his cousin A.K. for having illicit relations, the man said reporting his own crime was the only way available to him to marry the woman he loved in the face of opposition from her family.

K.S. said his earlier attempts to marry his cousin had ended in failure after his proposals were rebuffed by her family, and especially his aunt — the girl's mother.

In his statement to the Dubai Public Prosecution, K.S. claimed: "Following several fruitless attempts to convince my aunt to allow us to get married, my only solution was to report to the police that I had consensual sex with my cousin.

"Then police would have to open up a case against us… which would embarrass my aunt and her family and pressure them to consent to our marriage.

"I was aware that we would face imprisonment, but I was told that if we got married, the case might be dismissed."

K.S said that A.K. had earlier refused his offer of marriage due to pressure from her family. When she denied his proposal at her house one night, he went to the police station at midnight and turned himself in for having consensual sex with her "ten times".

Thereafter, prosecutors accused the Emirati lovers of having sex out of wedlock and referred them to the Court of Misdemeanours.

During prosecution questioning, K.S. claimed he was aware that he and A.K. would face punishment but it was their only way to get married.

Meanwhile, Gulf News has learnt from sources close to the case that K.S. and A.K. indeed got married in a Dubai Sharia Court some time ago.

The duo failed to appear in court last week. A.K.'s mother claimed to the judge that her daughter could not attend as she was in hospital.

Police have charged A.K. and K.S. with having sex illegally. Court records corroborate K.S.' version of events, saying he loved his cousin and wanted to marry her but her mother continuously rejected his proposals because she considered him inappropriate and a "womaniser".

K.S. also said in his statement that he had consensual sex with his cousin more than ten times in different hotels in Dubai. "She agreed... because we loved each other," he claimed.

Meanwhile, A.K. alleged to prosecutors that she was not a willing participant in the events that transpired.

"He picked me up from the public library. I did not realise that he intended to have sex with me… I agreed to go with him to the hotel because he is my cousin and didn't suspect him. He said he wanted to discuss the issue of my photos that he had saved on his mobile phone. While we were inside the room, he said, ‘I will marry you against your will'. He undressed and had sex with me," she said.

"I was afraid to tell my family… He continuously threatened me and my family in an attempt to pressure us to get married."

However, she left a telling clue about her feelings when she said: "I repeatedly asked him to convince my mother if we had to get married because I had no say in that."

Records also show K.S. sent a message to his aunt claiming A.K. got pregnant and they used medical pills to abort the two-month-old fetus. He later denied this allegation to police.

Prosecutors said questions revealed the couple had consensual sex. The next hearing is on September 20.