DUBAI // A man who raped an compatriot after luring her to the country with the offer of a job had his five-and-a-half year jail term upheld by the Appeals Court today.
The court upheld the man's five-year sentence for the rape plus a six-month sentence for returning to the country after being deported. It also upheld a Dh1,000 fine for consuming alcohol.
JA, 45, from Bangladesh, told his compatriot he could get her a job at a beauty salon in Dubai if she paid him 90,000 Rupees, which she did.
He picked her up at Abu Dhabi airport on November 24 last year before driving her to a one-bedroom apartment in Muraqqabat where he left her, telling her to take a rest.
"I woke up after midnight to someone touching me," recalled the woman during the man's trial at the Criminal Court. The man was standing over her, naked.
He started flirting with her then asked to have sex. "I could smell alcohol on him," said the woman.
The man left the bedroom but returned seconds later holding a knife. He threatened to kill the woman unless she had sex with him, then ripped off her clothes and raped her three times in an attack that lasted for more than half an hour.
"I was crying all the time and he did not care," said the woman.
After the attack the man fell asleep.
The next morning the woman stood on the apartment's balcony and screamed at passersby for help. Minutes later, the building's security guard opened the door accompanied by police who arrested the man.
During his trial at the Criminal Court, he denied the rape charge, claiming the sex was consensual, but he confessed to the illegal consumption of alcohol and returning to the country illegally.
He will be deported after completing his prison term.
salamir@thenational.ae
