A 28-year-old salesman denied breaking into the home of a woman in Dubai then raping her at knife-point.
At Dubai Criminal Court on Sunday, the defendant, from Sierra Leone, said the woman was framing him.
"Its not true, your honour. There is an issue between this woman and me and she is framing me," he said, though the judge would not allow him to elaborate as rape cases require a lawyer present and he didn't have one.
The Egyptian woman involved told prosecutors that on December 13 two years ago, the defendant came to her apartment asking about a friend, but she threw him out.
"Later the same night, he returned, broke into the apartment then, when I saw him, he gagged me to stop me from screaming then threatened me with a weapon and raped me," said the 43-year-old woman.
She said that he dragged her into her kitchen and raped her on the floor. "I resisted but he was very strong," she said.
The woman's flatmate told prosecutors that she received a call from the Egyptian who was crying and telling her to come home quickly.
"When I returned I found that police were there then I saw her and she told me what happened. She said that he also stole cash from her purse," said the 33-year-old flatmate, who is also from Egypt.
Police said that the lock was broken but that it was broken from the inside, not the outside.
"There were no signs of force on the woman's body when she was checked," said the forensic expert in his report. Traces of the man's DNA were found in the apartment though, the report said.
The accused denied charges of rape and theft in court on Sunday.
The report was filed in 2015 but it was not made clear why the defendant is only appearing before court now.
The next hearing will be on October 29.
