Soldier jailed for rape gets special pardon

dubai — A soldier, who had been sentenced to three years in prison for raping a 22-year-old woman, has been granted special pardon upon appeal.

It is understood the Emirati man, 22, lured the woman to ride with him on November 29 last year, and then drove to the desert, where he raped her. The Court of First Instance convicted him in April. He had denied the rape charge in the court, claiming it was consensual sex.

The defendant’s 20-year-old compatriot friend, who was hiding in the backseat when the woman — an Ethiopian — rode in the car, was acquitted then of an attempted rape charge.

A presiding judge at the Court of Appeals said the main accused’s three-year jail term has been quashed as he has been granted pardon while his accomplice’s acquittal verdict has been confirmed.

The woman said the first defendant called her at 10pm as she was visiting a friend in Freej Al Murar in the Naif area. “He invited me to dinner and picked me up. He drove for a long time before he stopped his car in the desert.”

At that time, she was “surprised” to see that another man was sitting in the backseat. “When the other man stepped off, the main accused suddenly

He invited me to dinner and picked me up. He drove for a long time before he stopped his car in the desert.” Complainant

moved to my seat and hit my hip as I screamed.”

She was told to keep quiet. “He threatened he would slit my throat and throw me in the desert if I screamed,” she told the prosecutor.

He took off her clothes and raped her while gagging her.

The accomplice then rode in the driver’s seat and told her he wanted to have sex with her. He stepped back after she cried and begged him not to touch her.

She was then made to sit in the backseat and her mobile phone was taken. “They dropped me back and threw my phone on me as I got down,” she recounted.

Police patrol officers stopped the defendant’s car shortly later.

“We were nearby when we spotted a woman stepping off a car at 4.45am. She was crying and told us that the car’s driver did something bad to her,” said a police officer.

The main defendant told those officers that the woman refused to get off the car and claimed she wanted to cause him trouble. The two men and the woman were then taken to the police station.

The accused was convicted after a forensic report concluded his DNA traces were found on the complainant’s body.

mary@khaleejtimes.com