Attacked woman jailed for drinking alcohol without licence

ABU DHABI // A woman who was sexually assaulted was yesterday sentenced to a month in prison for drinking alcohol without a licence.

AS, the Emirati she accused of raping her after they met at a nightclub, was sentenced to three months in prison for sexual assault.

Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance heard that RJ, a Briton, had woken up next to AS in a hotel room, but was too drunk to remember anything from the night before.

She said that after she woke, AS held her on the bed and stopped her leaving.

"He shouted at me saying he did not do anything wrong," RJ said. "His friends were also arguing out loud with him in Arabic."

The court was told that his friends overheard the two the night before and went to the room in the morning. AS said he met RJ at a nightclub where she kissed him and invited him to sleep with her.

He said they went to a hotel room where she stripped and initiated sex, but he decided he was not attracted to her and had a shower instead. AS said she then fell asleep.

"When she woke up she started crying because she thought we had sex," AS told the court.

Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer asked RJ whether there had been any sex.

"In the morning when I woke up of course not, but at night I don't remember. I was unconscious," she said. "But I know what I felt."

hdajani@thenational.ae