Footballer pleads not guilty to kidnapping businesswoman

Dubai: A professional Emirati footballer has denied kidnapping a 21-year-old businesswoman and locking her in his flat, a court heard on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old footballer denied the charge and also a second charge of attempting to kidnap three other girls with the help of a compatriot before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

The Public Prosecution charged the footballer and his 27-year-old compatriot employee with kidnapping the Iraqi businesswoman. The duo was also charged with attempting to kidnap three women, a 21-year-old Iraqi visitor, a 27-year-old Moroccan saleswoman and her 22-year-old compatriot investor, who were in the same car.

Records said the suspects used their car to obstruct the vehicle carrying the four girls, before the footballer pulled the businesswoman out from her hair and forced her into his car. The footballer drove off in his car and locked the businesswoman in his flat for a few hours before she managed to escape.

Meanwhile, the employee drove the car, which carried the other girls, and tried to follow the footballer's vehicle but more than three police patrols surrounded him near Al Rashidiya and rescued the girls.

“My client is a famous and professional footballer and his future is at stake due to this case. He shouldn't miss training sessions as well. The duo were bailed during the public prosecution questioning, but later he was rearrested. The other suspect is still out on bail and we are seeking to bail our client,'' the footballer's lawyer Eisa Bin Haidar told the judge in the 9am hearing before presiding Judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm later approved the bail application.