Drunk man tries to rape woman at Dubai bus stop, jailed for 6 months

Dubai - He had grabbed her and dragged her behind a heavy truck.

A drunk man, who dragged a woman from a bus stop to behind a truck where he tried to rape her under duress, has been sentenced to six months in jail.

Even though the 24-year-old Pakistani construction worker denied charges of rape and consumption of alcohol without a licence in the Court of First Instance, the court found him guilty and ordered him be jailed for six months and to pay a Dh 2,000 fine on the alcohol consumption charge. He will be deported.

The incident happened at around 10:30 pm on July 12 in Al Quoz.

The man was sitting next to the victim, a Filipina, at the bus stop when he suddenly grabbed her, dragged her by force to where a heavy truck was parked by the side of the road. He tried to rape her behind the truck, but she resisted, while four men arrived at the site and took him away from her.

"I was waiting at the bus stop but had to move when I spotted the accused staring at me inappropriately," the victim, a 33-year-old accountant, said.

"When I stood up he came closer. I told him to stay away or I would call the police but he did not listen. I got scared and I picked up a stick with which I hit him on his hand twice but he snatched it and threw it away."

The woman could not escape as the man grabbed her by her hands from behind her and lifted her. "He took me as I screamed behind a heavy vehicle near the bus stop where he tried to rape me. But I kept screaming," the victim recounted.

A 42-year-old Indian working as a supervisor, who witnessed the incident, said he had to pull over when he spotted the accused grabbing the woman at the bus stop.

"I heard her screaming and then saw her behind a truck. She was on her knees crying and trying to keep the man from taking her shirt off. I pulled him away from her and then four men arrived and grabbed the accused. As we called the police he tried to run away but we caught him."

mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai