Court pronounces verdict in Dubai Gang rape case

Court pronounces verdict in Dubai Gang rape case

A 22-year-old Emirati man and a 19-year-old stateless youngster, who gang raped a woman at knifepoint, have both been sentenced to 15 years in jail by the Court of First Instance.

Their Pakistani friend, 22, was found guilty of the charge of attempted rape. He was about to rape the woman but stopped when he saw the police patrol car. The court sentenced him to 10 years in jail.

They all threatened the victim’s friend – together with other juvenile accomplices – using a knife and stone into giving them his money.

The Pakistani and the Emirati were also accused of drinking alcohol without a licence. The Pakistani and the stateless defendants will be deported afterwards.

The incident took place around 2:30 am on May 3, 2017.

“I was walking with my friend when seven men approached us. I got very scared and tried to run away into the street but two of them caught me and forced me on a bike. They took me to a dark, offroad location where four men gang-raped me. One of them was holding me down and helping the others do what they wanted,” the victim, a 41-year-old Kenyan resident, said.

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The victim’s 23-year-old friend, also a Kenyan working as a security guard, said that as two men followed his friend the others threatened him with a knife and a stone, telling him to hand over whatever money he had.

“We received a report about the incident in Al Quoz industrial area, near Al Khail Gate, at around 3 am. At the crime scene, the victim told us she was walking with her friend when seven men came to them. She was taken by force to a dark location, where they gang-raped her at knifepoint,” a policeman said.

“We seized a knife from the crime scene and arrested them on the same day. They all confessed they raped the victim and threatened her friend.”

Four of the accused, including a juvenile, admitted during the investigation to having sexually assaulted the victim. DNA traces of three of them were found on the victim’s body.