Dubai: Three men have been charged with gang-raping a waitress after pretending to be police officers to lure her to a hotel in Ajman.

A 26-year-old Bangladeshi carpenter, M.K, and his two compatriots, who remain at large, are charged with posing as CID men then kidnapping the Filipina waitress and driving her to a flat in Ajman where they gang-raped her. The defendants were also accused of stealing the 33-year-old Filipina's mobile phone and Dh200.

M.K. failed to appear before the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday where he was scheduled to stand trial.

Presiding Judge Jasem Al Beloushi adjourned the case until M.K. was legally notified about the next hearing on June 21.

Chief prosecutor Ahmad Mohammad Al Hammadi asked for the implementation of a death punishment against the defendant.

According to the charge sheet, M.K. and the two runaways, L.S. and M.A., claimed to be police officers and forced the waitress into their car. Then they threatened to throw her in jail or kill her if she refused to have sex with them.

When she refused and asked them to take her to the police station, one of the defendants punched her on the face.

Bus station

The trio then took her to a hotel apartment where they raped her one at a time.

Records said the defendants stole her money and mobile phone then they handed her Dh50 and left her at the bus station in Sharjah.

The waitress, identified as J.M., testified that she had finished work around 2am when the suspects, posing as policemen, stopped her near a supermarket.

"One of them showed me a police ID. They pushed me into the car and they drove off. On the way, one of them said they will throw me in prison or kill me if I refused to have sex with the three of them… I rejected and asked to be taken to police detention. They beat me on my face and I bled. They blindfolded me and continued driving around 30 minutes. They stopped in front of two furnished apartment buildings before they forced me into a flat.

"They said I will be killed if I cried for help or tried to escape… then beat me again and removed my clothes by force. The trio raped and molested me one by one," J.M. claimed to prosecutors.

Arrested

Prosecution records said the defendants took her back in their car and dropped her in Sharjah. When they dropped her in the bus station, according to her statement, she recorded the car plate number before she reported to the police.

An Emirati lieutenant testified that the airport police at Dubai International Airport arrested M.K. when he returned from abroad. "M.K. claimed during questioning that they had consensual sex with the Filipina… he denied the rape and kidnap charges," the lieutenant claimed.