Man secretly films woman naked in Dubai flat, blackmails her

Dubai - The victim was not aware she was being filmed with surveillance cameras.

A 47-year-old man has been charged at a Dubai court after he allegedly blackmailed a female acquaintance with her nude photos and videos.
The Court of First Instance heard how the Jordanian manager got the compromising footage of the victim, also Jordanian, after he secretly filmed her at her residence.
Public prosecution records show he had lured the woman to move into his flat which he offered her for rent. The victim was not aware she was being filmed with surveillance cameras installed inside the house.
In the case which dates back to 2018, the man faced charges of making criminal threats, blackmail, online verbal abuse, invasion of privacy and sexual assault. He also allegedly tried to force himself on the complainant. The man pleaded not guilty. A complaint was filed against him at Al Rashidiya police station.
The complainant, 49, recounted how she came to know the defendant, who shipped some of her belongings to Jordan, in 2016. "It was a strictly business relation. I referred an Iraqi customer to him to carry out similar shipment work for an enterprise to Saudi Arabia."
She was a middle person between the two men when the accused purchased furniture from that enterprise but failed to pay Dh10,000 in dues and also did not give her the commission he had promised her.
He then let her rent a flat he had in Al Badia till the painting work in her room in a shared villa dried off. She moved there with her son. The man later invited her over lunch. "He said his sister would be there but when we reached, he claimed she had already left. After lunch, he grabbed me trying to hug me. He told me he wanted to have sex with me. He only let me leave after I threatened him that I would call the police," she recalled during investigation.
When she requested him to pay the furniture price and her commission, he told her she would have to go with him to bed to get the money. "When I called his wife and told her about his sexual harassment of me, he said that he had an audio recording of me having an intimate conversation with my boyfriend. He recorded it when I once used his mobile phone," she told the prosecutor.
He also threatened to circulate nude photos and videos of her which he got from the surveillance cameras in his flat where she stayed. "He was blackmailing me so to apologise to his wife and tell her that what I told her was not true. He also wanted me to stop claiming my commission."
When she did not yield to his demands, he sent the audio conversation to her friends in Dubai and Jordan. He also sent her nude photos and videos to her boyfriend.
The accused also verbally abused her on WhatsApp.
An audio recording of a man threatening a woman that he would circulate her photos if she did not apologise to him was used as public prosecution evidence. Insults could also be heard during the conversation and voice notes.
The trial has been adjourned to March 12.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai