'Rapist was like my brother', woman tells court

DUBAI // A woman told a court today that her alleged rapist was "like a brother" to her.

The 28-year-old estate agent from Albania said that she would rather have killed herself than allow her long-time friend, a 24-year-old salesman from Iran, to touch her.

She told the court that she often visited her friend and slept at his apartment, but that their relationship was merely as friends.

The man was said to have invited her to a nightclub on October 28, and was drunk by the time she arrived. "When I arrived he started telling me he loved me and wanted me to be his for the night," she said.

She said she told him he was like her brother, but he continued telling her he loved her.

After continued pleading, she said the pair of them left to go to his apartment in Tecom area.

The man continued to ask for sex and when she refused, she said he pushed her to a bed, ripped her clothes off and raped her.

"I washed myself then left the apartment," said the woman.

The next morning she informed police, who found traces of the man's DNA on her clothes.

The man, DR, denied the charges before Judge Hamad Abdul Latif.

The next hearing will be on April 16 to summon witnesses.

salamir@thenational.ae