2 Charged with Rape of Pinay in Dubai Plead Not Guilty
DUBAI: Two unemployed men charged with the rape of a Filipina housemaid inside a minibus in 2013 pleaded not guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance, according to a media report.
Prosecutors had charged the duo with kidnap, rape and impersonation, apart from stealing Dh660, a camera and mobile phone, reported Gulf News.
The Pakistani defendants, aged 36 and 28, allegedly posed as cops, and forced the 29-year-old victim, and her Indian boyfriend to get into the vehicle parked outside Al Safa Park in November 2013, the report said.
Denying the charges, the defendants reportedly told presiding judge Mohammad Jamal that the couple forgot their belongings in the minibus.
According to the charge-sheet, the duo threw the boyfriend out of the bus before they took turns to sexually assault the woman.
Meanwhile, in her testimony to prosecutors, the Filipina reportedly said the incident happened around 3pm after she attended a party in Al Riqqa.
She added that her boyfriend asked her to meet him in Al Safa Park and she agreed because she thought he wanted to return the Dh1,500 he owed her.
She claimed that they spotted the two defendants watching them as they entered the park, but paid no attention to them.
“When we left the park at 5.30pm, the men stopped us outside the gate. They claimed to be cops, and threatened to take us to the police station. We begged them to let us go. They made us get into a small bus, and drove for a while before they took our mobile phones, and wallets,” she claimed.
The housemaid returned to her sponsor’s house, and reported the matter to the police. The boyfriend confirmed her statement, the report said.
She identified the defendants after the police arrested them. The court will appoint two lawyers to defend the suspects when it reconvenes on June 24, Gulf News reported.