DUBAI // A couple denied bringing a 16-year-old girl into the country and forcing her into prostitution, the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance heard this morning.
The couple, MZ, 36, and FB, 25, both from Bangladesh, were accused of locking her up and charging men to have sex with her. MZ also denied raping the victim;
FB admitted to prostitution when she appeared before court.
The victim told prosecutors that FB’s grandmother approached her mother in Bangladesh and told her FB had a maid job ready for her in Dubai.
She said she arrived in September 2010 and was locked up from the first day by both suspects, according to records.
Prosecutors said that when she refused to work in prostitution, as FB requested of her, MZ raped her twice. She said she was then raped by two other men from Pakistan, records show.
She told prosecutors that she begged FB to let her go. FB eventually gave her Dh50 and a phone number, then told her to sneak out of the house while MZ was sleeping.
She added that FB told her to take a taxi to Naif Police Station to report the crime, but not to give investigators directions to the house or identify her and MZ.
The victim was crying in court, and the judge ordered the hearing delayed for later in the day so a translator could be provided.
salamir@thenational.ae
