DUBAI // The defence lawyer of an Irish man and a British woman accused of having drunken sex in the back of a Dubai taxi told a court today that the driver made the story up after a disagreement with the two expatriates.
"[The driver's] testimony before police officers contradicts his testimony before prosecutors," Shakir Al Shammari told the Misdemeanours Court, who also claimed that a police officer who testified had changed his story.
"The case is malicious because the driver and the couple did not reach an understanding regarding their destination," he added.
The British woman RB, a 29-year-old recruitment executive, and Irish man CM, 27, face charges of consensual sex and consuming alcohol. While both admit drinking heavily before getting in the taxi on May 4, both deny the sex charge.
Mr Al Shammari asked for the sex charge to be dismissed. "My clients' testimonies were the same during police and prosecution investigations," he said.
During a previous hearing the taxi driver QP, a 29-year-old Pakistani, told the court that he picked the pair up outside a hotel at about 11pm and drove them to Al Barsha, but that they then became vague about where they wanted to go.
He said that during the trip he noticed the man drinking from a bottle of alcohol and that soon afterwards he noticed the woman sitting on the man's lap. He said she was topless and sitting on the man's lap in what appeared to be a sexual position and that she was moaning for a period of two minutes. He said that while the pair were otherwise engaged he parked the taxi and motioned to a police officer to come over.
The police officer, 22, backed up his story, saying that when he came over to investigate he saw the woman without any underwear on gyrating on top of the man, whose trousers were around his knees.
A verdict is expected on November 22.
[ salamir@thenational.ae ]
