DUBAI // A man who kidnapped and raped a woman he wanted to marry was today sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The Emirati MA, 24, jumped into the woman's car after she parked near to Deira School for Adults where she was supposed to be taking an exam at about 4pm on December 11.
"Come ride with me," he told the woman, also an Emirati, who had previously rejected a marriage proposal from him.
She initially refused but he then waved a knife at her and began cutting the interior of the car.
The woman pretended to agree to his request, asking if she could first attend her exam. He allowed her to leave the car but when he spotted her reaching for her mobile he rushed towards her and grabbed her, before forcing her into his own car.
He then drove off, and while speeding on the Dubai-Al Ain road began slapping her on the face and punching her all over her body.
He met up with friends driving an Audi and they went to a hotel in Al Ain where they forced the woman into a room after taking her mobile. The woman's sisters and mother then called the man several times, suspecting he might be involved in her disappearance.
The man later called the woman's sister to tell her where she was. The woman tried to escape through the hotel room's window, but the man pulled her back inside and threw her on the bed before ripping her clothes off and raping her.
They then left the hotel in the man's car and the woman asked him to stop at a petrol station for a bottle of water. When he did so, she jumped onto the driver's seat and sped off.
Further up the road she stopped the car and waved down a passing Nissan Patrol. She then used the driver's phone to call her husband before stopping at her sister's house and heading to Al Muraqqabat police station to report the incident.
Her sister testified that the man had often called her and cried on the phone because the pair had not married. He would tell the sister that he was still in love with the woman.
On the day of the kidnapping he called the sister and asked about the woman. The sister told him she had gone to school. "He hung up the phone and after a short period I knew he kidnapped her," said the sister.
salamir@thenational.ae
