Man 'ended girlfriend's pregnancy in vicious attack'

DUBAI // A man yesterday denied terminating his girlfriend's pregnancy in a vicious attack with a wooden stick.

The 44-year-old Bangladeshi driver M A confessed at the Dubai Criminal Court to having consensual sex with his compatriot L S, a 30-year-old cleaner.

But he denied threatening to kill her if she did not abort the pregnancy. He also denied forcing an abortion by attacking her on January 23. The woman denied a charge of consensual sex, saying she had been forced into it by the driver.

The cleaner told prosecutors that when she discovered she was pregnant, she asked the driver to marry her, but he refused. He then ordered her to abort the baby, and she refused.

She said he then beat her all over her body with a wooden stick before leaving. When he returned he had some tablets which he ordered her to take. She refused to take them so he assaulted her again, the court heard.

Brandishing a knife, he is alleged to have told her he would kill her before pushing six tablets down her throat and two others into her genitalia, which caused her to start bleeding.

The cleaner then rushed to a police station and reported him.

She told police that she worked at the driver's room in Al Hamriya. He was arrested at his workplace in Port Saeed.

The next hearing is on May 17.

salamir@thenational.ae