Dubai: Three men will spend their time behind bars after losing appeal in the case of kidnapping a secretary on a motorbike, gang-raping and molesting her in the desert at knifepoint.
The victim, a Kenyan secretary, 41, and her compatriot friend were walking near Al Khail Gate when a group of five persons — three adults and two teenagers — stopped them at 2.30am.
The five threatened the Kenyan man and woman with a knife and a rock as the woman attempted to run away from the scene. They stopped her and forced her to ride with them on a motorbike to a deserted spot.
After having threatened to kill the Kenyan man if he shouted or tried to chase them, the five assailants took the woman, forced her to strip at knifepoint and raped and abused her.
In January, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed an Emirati defendant and another man who does not have personal identification papers for 15 years each for raping the Kenyan woman at knifepoint. A Pakistani defendant was jailed 10 years for molesting the secretary and trying to rape her.
Police arrested the three men and two teenagers after the victim’s friend notified them and a patrol team was dispatched to the location. The Kenyan woman was found at a nearby spot after police combed the area for a while.
The three men appealed their primary punishments before the Appeal Court and sought reduced imprisonments.
According to the appeal ruling, presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected the defendants’ appeal and upheld their punishments. The Pakistani will spend 10 years behind bars and the other two will be see off their 15-year imprisonments.
The Pakistani and person without identification papers will be deported, presiding judge Bin Sarm said.
The culprits were also convicted of consuming alcohol and threatening to kill the Kenyan man.
When they appeared before the appellate court, the trio pleaded not guilty and denied their gang-rape charges.
The 41-year-old victim said she saw around five men running towards her while she was walking with her countryman friend.
“I ran to the main road but one of them pulled me towards a motorbike and forced me to ride with another defendant. They took me to a poorly lit spot where they raped me one at a time,” she said.
The Kenyan friend told prosecutors that the assailants threatened them with a knife and a rock.
A policeman testified that they were alerted about a problem near Al Quoz.
“Once we arrived at the location, we found the Kenyan victim … she told us that she had been gang-raped and molested at knifepoint. The friend said the defendants threatened to kill him. We found the knife thrown at a nearby location,” the policeman said.
The appellate judgement remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court.
The Dubai Juveniles Court jailed one of the teenagers involved in the case for six months. Both teenagers will be deported.
