DUBAI // A drunk, knife-wielding Sudanese shepherd has been jailed for six months for attempted rape and attempted murder.
In a terrifying attack, victim HA, 29, who is also from Sudan, was beaten by AA, who threatened to kill her with a knife from her own apartment.
The 37-year-old attacker turned up drunk at the door of HA demanding that she go to a nightclub with him after previously meeting the woman while shopping in Al Murar, Dubai.
AA had helped with the victim's shopping and they exchanged phone numbers but when he turned up at her door at 10pm on March 20, she refused to go with him and threw him out.
Five hours later he returned and barged into the woman's apartment. He asked to have sex with her but she refused. He attacked her, punched her in the face then threw her on the floor and tried to rape her.
HA resisted fiercely and bit him on his chest. He responded by stepping on her stomach and kicking her in the head.
The victim fainted for a few minutes and woke up to see her attacker holding a knife and coming towards her. When she tried to run towards the door, he dragged her leg while she was holding onto the door knob.
When he told her he would kill her she kicked his leg, dislodging the knife from his hand. She picked it up and tried to call police on her mobile phone but he knocked it out of her hand and then beat her until she lost consciousness.
HA woke up 15 minutes later to find he had left. She asked for her neighbour's help and then called police.
"Someone knocked on my door and when I opened it, it was HA bruised all over her face and body," said MB, the 43-year-old Sudanese neighbour.
AA will also be referred to the Court of Misdemeanours for drinking alcohol. Following the completion of his prison term, he will be deported.
[ salamir@thenational.ae ]
