Dubai: A Bangladeshi worker has denied buying a housemaid for Dh4,500, exploiting her for sexual purposes and raping her before reselling her for Dh4,200 to his compatriot, who also denied trafficking and raping her.

Prosecutors accused the 28-year-old worker, M.M., and his 26-year-old unemployed compatriot, A.S., with trafficking the Indonesian housemaid and exploiting her for sexual purposes and raping her.

The two defendants pleaded not guilty when they appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday.

According to the chargesheet, prosecutors said M.M. repeatedly gagged and tied the housemaid, L.D., and raped her on different occasions.

A.S. was charged with beating and raping the woman as well.

Forced

M.M. and A.S. were charged with human trafficking by buying the woman for Dh4,500 and Dh4,200, respectively, and forcing her into the sex trade.

When Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir levelled the charges against the suspects, they both argued: "Not guilty… we didn't do that."

The housemaid testified in her prosecution statement that a Bangladeshi woman convinced her to abscond from her employer's house for a better job.

"The woman and a male suspect locked me up for 20 days because I refused to have sex with men. "One day M.M. came and bought me from the woman for Dh4,500. He kept me in his house in Hamriya, where he had kept three [other] women working as prostitutes for him since three years…

Refusal

"M.M. raped me repeatedly in his house where [he] kept me for three months. I refused his commands to work in prostitution… until he sold me for Dh4,200 to A.S. who also raped me," the girl alleged.

An Emirati anti-human trafficking policeman testified that the girl escaped from A.S.'s flat by jumping out of the window while he was away.

"When I questioned her, she claimed that she was a virgin before M.M. raped her... She claimed that A.S. also raped her… she alleged that when he was away one day, she opened a window and ran away before she resorted to the police.

"An anti-human trafficking police team arrested M.M. in Al Sabkha street.

"He admitted, during questioning, that he bought her for Dh4,000 and that she stayed with him for 40 days, during which he used to take her to hotels and flats to have sex with men against her will," the lieutenant said.

Prosecution records said A.S. was her client before he bought her from M.M. to work in the sex trade.

Police arrested A.S. in a sting operation.

Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir adjourned the case until May 5 to assign lawyers to defend the suspects.