Chef gets eight years’ jail for human trafficking, rape

The Court of First Instance presided by Judge Hamad Abdel Latif Abdel Jawad sentenced the 36-year-old Bangladeshi chef to five years in jail for human trafficking and illegal confinement and three more years for raping the victim.

He will be deported after serving his jail term, the court ordered. According to prosecution records, the accused bought a maid from another runaway suspect and forced her into prostitution under force and assault. He raped her and confined her in a house in Muraqqabat for flesh trade.

The maid, a 25-year-old from Indonesia, told the prosecutor that she had to run from her sponsor in Al Ain because of bad treatment. She sought the help of another maid in Abu Dhabi at whose place she stayed for two days.

Then her friend sent her to Dubai in a cab. She stayed at the place of a woman in Al Hamriyah as told by her friend. Later, the woman told her that her friend had sold her for Dh4,000.

She was forced to work as a prostitute. She cried a lot and begged to be allowed to go back to her home country. The woman allegedly took her mobile phone and held her up in a room for one week. She told her she would have to obey her to pay her back the money. That woman later sold her to a Bangladeshi man for Dh4,000 who also forced her into the flesh trade in the same area. He used to drop her at hotels where she met men. He used to beat her whenever she resisted.

That man later sold her to a the defendant for Dh3,000.

The defendant confined her in a room and raped her. He also forced her to the flesh trade. She could run away when that man’s friend left the door open. She sought the help of a passer-by to go to the Muraqqabat Police Station.

The complaint was lodged on July 16, last year.

mary@khaleejtimes.com