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Duo gets ten-year jail for kidnap, rape

Two 20-year-old men have each been handed down a ten-year prison term after they were found guilty of raping, molesting and imprisoning a drunk woman after kidnapping her late at night.

The Court of First Instance also ordered that the two defendants, both Iranians, be deported after serving their prison sentences.

According to the prosecution records, the two accused, both on business visas, together with another compatriot man who is at large, kidnapped the British national, after intercepting the cab she was in.

The incident happened in July last year.

They approached the taxi she was sitting in and told the driver that they knew the woman. The men claimed that they would drop her at her place of residence, before paying the driver Dh100 for the Dh58 fare for the journey.

The victim, a 28-year-old executive manager, told the prosecutor that she became so drunk after consuming three glasses of wine at a hotel’s night club in Bur Dubai. She claimed that she blacked out and when she woke up, she was in a dark room being raped by the two accused and another man. The latter was also filming the rape.

They took turns assaulting her several times, leaving her in terrible pain.

The woman then took a cab to her flat in the Meadows and informed her roommate about the rape and assault.

The victim’s roommate, a 26-year-old French training manager, testified that the victim came back around 8.30am looking terrified and tense.

The victim told her that she had been raped and was bleeding and the roommate advised her to change her clothes, without taking a shower.

The two women then went to the police station and reported the incident.

The police tracked down the cab through the hotel CCTV. The Pakistani driver confirmed that the woman was very drunk when she rode with him around 3am that night.

He claimed she wanted to be dropped in Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) but she stepped out of the taxi without paying the Dh58 she owed him. She was stopped by a security guard and went back and sat in the driver seat.

At that point, a car stopped and two men, the defendants, came to him and claimed they knew her. They paid him Dh100 and drove away with the victim.

The CCTV footage helped the police identify the defendants through the plate number of their car and the description given by the driver of the cab also helped in the lead up to their arrest.

Some of the victim’s belongings, including her underwear, were found in their flat in the Naif area.

The verdict can be appealed within 15 days.

mary@khaleejtimes.com