Woman had consensual sex, Dubai court rules

Dubai: A rape suspect has escaped a life sentence and won a three-month imprisonment instead after his lawyer convinced the court that he had consensual sex with the claimant.

The 29-year-old Kyrgyz suspect, A.K., had denied the accusation of raping his 25-year-old Russian friend in her bedroom on Christmas Eve after she invited him to sleep over in December.

The Dubai Court of First Instance modified the rape charge to consensual sex after it decided that the Russian woman seduced the man and lured him because she was emotionally frustrated and distressed after having been ditched by her boyfriend.

Lawyer Hamda Makki argued before the court that her client did not rape the claimant.

“They had consensual sex and there were no signs of rape at all. She willingly invited him to her flat and her bedroom. She fabricated the rape allegations out of malice,” Hamda told presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi.

“The court has decided to drop the rape charge and replace it with consensual sex. The defendant will be jailed for three months followed by deportation,” said presiding judge Al Mahdi in courtroom seven on Sunday.

The Russian alleged in court that A.K. raped her after she provided shelter to him as friend who happened to be homeless on that cold evening and out of compassion.

Lawyer Hamda countered the woman’s claims that she described as “malicious and unfounded allegations”.

“She lied about the rape. The claimant could not corroborate her allegations. The Russian should be produced in court as a suspect for having consensual sex with my client…,” contended Hamda.

“The claimant befriended the defendant for nearly three months. She had just been ditched by her lover and the suspect had been depressed over being unemployed. The Russian and the Kyrgyz were going through an emotional breakdown. She wanted revenge on her boyfriend who broke her heart. The woman invited the defendant to her flat... she had planned in advance to lure the defendant to her bed.

“She wore revealing clothes and she made him drink while they shared their pain. After midnight she invited him into the bedroom… then she lured him into having sex with her,” read Sunday’s judgement sheet.

Lawyer Hamda also argued that the claimant’s friend [a prosecution witness] gave an inconsistent statement.

The forensic evidence did not confirm that the woman had been raped, concluded the lawyer.

Prosecutors said the Kyrgyz defendant told the Russian woman that he needed a friend to talk to after he failed to find a job in Dubai.

Although the woman’s bedroom had separate beds, A.K. is alleged to have sat on the woman’s bed, pinned her down and raped her.

The court countered prosecutors’ description as to how the incident took place and decided that the forensic evidence was not enough to accuse A.K. of rape.

Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.