Dubai: A US sailor on a brief shopping stop in Dubai alleged a bus driver attempted to rape her at knifepoint.
The Pakistani driver, K.S., was unable to present identification documents showing his age before the Dubai Criminal Court to answer the charges.
The sailor, 28-year-old M.J., used her 24-hour pass to visit Mall of The Emirates while her ship was docked at Port Khaled in Sharjah.
Instead of getting into a taxi, however she chose to take a bus back to her ship. But the driver took her to a deserted area and went to the back of the bus and lunged at the sailor.
She told the court that the suspect tore off her clothes and tried to rape her. “I resisted him to the best of my ability, but he touched me all over. He touched my breasts and bit me everywhere … the more I resisted, the harder he bit me,” the sailor testified.
M.J. said she stopped resisting when the assailant took out a medium-sized kitchen knife.
“For fear of him cutting me I did what he asked, but when he attempted to fondle my breasts again, I saw my chance. I knocked the knife from his hand, and had him in a stranglehold between my thighs,” the sailor told the court.
The US sailor said she left the bus and declined the driver’s invitation to drive her back to the port. She immediately reported the incident to her superior.
When police arrested the suspect the next day, he was drunk. Besides attempted rape, the driver was also charged with illegally consuming alcohol and assault. The driver initially confessed all charges to police, but in court he only admitted to drinking alcohol illegally. “I was too drunk the night before to remember much of what happened,” he said.
Forensics experts found traces of M.J.’s blood and hair on the bus, as well as K.S.’s semen on his and the victim’s clothing.
The next hearing is on the May 1st.
