Dubai expat uses woman's Facebook photos to force her into sex

Dubai - 'I stayed in the main room with other women and we paid rent'

A Dubai expat is standing trial at the Court of First Instance on multiple charges, including defaming a woman of his nationality on social media.
The court heard how the 40-year-old Pakistani man, a vendor, got angry when the woman rejected his sexual advances towards her. He got even more upset after she moved out of their shared accommodation. The man is charged with invading others' privacy after he posted her personal photos on Facebook with inappropriate captions about her and also shared her number.
He is accused of sexually harassing the woman and inappropriately touching and hugging her without her consent. He is accused of trying to lure her to have sex with him for money.
The case dates back to August last year and was registered at Al Rashidiya police station.
The complainant, a 35-year-old Pakistani on a visit visa, said she arrived in the UAE on May 4 last year and stayed at a flat of the defendant's father, who is a relative. "I stayed in the main room with other women and we paid rent."
During investigation, she recounted how she moved to another accommodation after the accused began to sexually harass her. "He would touch me often. He also told me not to look for a job and that he would support me if I had sex with him."
After she rejected his offer and moved out, the accused began sending text and voice messages to the friends and relatives of the complainant. He would tell them that she works in prostitution and would have sexual relations with married men and then leave them after wrecking their marriages.
"He also opened many fake Facebook accounts where he posted my photos along with my phone number and the bad words about me," she told the prosecutor. 
The defendant was arrested at the parking lot of a mall. "After receiving the complaint, we arrested him. He confessed he stole the woman's photos from her mobile phone and then opened a fake account on Facebook where he posted those photos with her number. He also sent her photos to her relatives in Pakistan to force her to have sex with him," a police sergeant said.
The police searched the defendant's place and seized the phone in which he kept the woman's photos.
The accused remains in detention and will be sentenced on February 27.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai