Dubai: A man has been jailed for five years for enticing a housemaid to abscond from her sponsor and forcing her into prostitution.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 28-year-old Bangladeshi defendant of committing a human trafficking crime by forcing his 21-year-old countrywoman maid into the sex trade.
The accused was found guilty allegedly got the housemaid to run away from her sponsor’s villa by promising to find her a better job with a higher salary.
Presiding judge Urfan Omar also fined the defendant Dh100,000.
The defendant, who pleaded not guilty, will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
According to Monday’s verdict, the defendant’s 22-year-old countryman was cleared of human trafficking and sexual exploitation due to lack of corroborated evidence.
The woman testified that she was flown into the UAE in 2015 to work as a housemaid.
According to records, she got acquainted with the accused in 2016.
In her statement before prosecutors, the maid said that her countrymen picked her up once she absconded and made her stay in a flat at the Dubai International City.
“When I entered the flat, I met two Bangladeshi women who told me that they worked as prostitutes. They also told me that I would also be forced into the sex trade … but I refused. Ten days later, the defendant beat me and threatened me … I was forced to have sex with strange men for nearly three months. Later, police apprehended me having sex in a car with a client,” she said.
An anti-human trafficking lieutenant said they apprehended the defendant and his accomplice in a sting operation.
“A police agent posed as a potential buyer. The 21-year-old woman did not know that she was being sold to another person to make her work in prostitution,” the lieutenant testified.
Monday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
