Driver accused of raping employer’s son and threatening to behead him

Dubai: A driver has been accused of raping his boss's nine-year-old son and threatening to behead him if he told anyone what happened.

The Afghan boy was walking to his father’s restaurant to get some soup when the 36-year-old Afghan defendant, S.A., was said to have insisted the boy get in his car before driving to a remote area where he raped him on March 15.

Prosecution records said the defendant scuffled with his boss and beat him because the latter decided to cancel his visa and send him back to Afghanistan following the alleged rape.

Prosecutors accused the driver of raping the boy and threatening to kill him and assaulting the boy’s father.

“I did not have sex with the boy and I did not threaten to kill him,” said S.A. before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

“Did you assault the father?” Presiding Judge Ali Attiyah Sa’ad asked the defendant.

“Yes I beat him... but I did not do anything to the boy,” said S.A.

According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the suspect convinced the boy to accompany him in his car to the Fruit and Vegetables Market in Al Aweer. Then he drove to a sandy area where he raped him. He threatened him, saying: “I will cut off your head if you inform anyone what happened.”

The schoolboy testified that the incident happened shortly after his mother sent him to his father’s restaurant to get some soup.

“I tried not to go with the defendant to the market, but he insisted that I did,” the boy told prosecutors. “He purchased some vegetables and spices and then he drove back. On the way, he pulled over in a deserted area where he pulled me out of the car and abused me. I was in severe pain and begged him to stop, but he didn’t. I ran away from him because he stopped for a minute to answer his phone. I injured my toe when I was running away. He chased me by car and picked me up then he dropped me at the restaurant. When my mum saw me, I felt scared about what happened. When she asked me about the red colour on my trousers, I claimed that it was spices. The next morning she examined me and when she realised what had happened, she told my dad.”

The mother testified that she could not sleep and did not believe her son when he told her that his clothes were covered with red spices.

Records said the father scolded his son and pressured him to say what happened. The boy told his parents that the defendant had sex with him and would not leave him alone.

An Afghan salesman, who works at the restaurant, testified that the father decided to cancel S.A.’s visa and send him back to Afghanistan after what he allegedly did to his son.

“The defendant assaulted the boss... the police came and took the two men for questioning,” said the salesman.

Dubai Police’s forensic report confirmed the boy had been abused.

The trial continues.