Man accused of raping maid wins appeal

ABU DHABI // A teacher who denied raping his maid saying his wife was "much prettier" was cleared by an appeals court today.

The Jordanian RM was accused by his Filipina maid, LA, of raping her while his wife was at work and his 13-year-old son was playing computer games in his room.

The Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced him to a year in prison followed by deportation. However, this was overturned by the Abu Dhabi Appeals Court which found him not guilty.

The man's lawyer, Fayza Moussa, had previously rejected the rape accusation saying her client suffered diabetes and was "sexually weak". She said that this had prevented him from sleeping with his wife for four months prior to the alleged incident, and questioned why he would be any less impotent with the maid when his wife was much more beautiful, attractive, and 12 years younger than he was.

Ms Moussa asked for the wife to be shown to the court, so that judges could see how beautiful she was.

She dismissed forensic reports that found traces of the man's semen on the maid's underwear. She also commented on the size difference between her large client and the petite maid.

"If he had held her against the wall while raping her, as she had claimed, there would've been some marks at least from his fingers on her body."

Ms Moussa said the maid had made up the rape to spite the man's wife who scolded her a lot.

hdajani@thenational.ae