Two cleared of kidnapping, groping charges

Defendants acquitted due to lack of substantiated evidence

Two engineers have been cleared of bid to kidnap a student they met at a landmark hotel and groping her.

The 20-year-old Saudi student alleged that she met three men at the hotel’s entrance on a Friday at 2am. One of the men walked up to the student and chatted with her then talked her into adding him on Snapchat.

The man suddenly vomited in front of her before one of his friends walked him away and the other friend stood there chatting with the girl.

As the other friend returned without the man who had vomited, the two - Iranian and Emirati engineers - convinced the girl to go with them to a nearby gas station to buy food. They picked up some food and cigarettes from the station and went to the beach near the hotel.

The student then asked the two men to drive her back to the hotel but when they didn’t respond and she heard them whispering, she got scared and went to the car, said records.

The duo went back to the car and when one of them tried to touch her, she pushed his hand away and tried to leave the car.

She claimed that the men tried to pull her back into the car before she threw herself out of the car. She ran away towards the street and, to her luck, spotted a police car. She alleged to the policemen that she had been kidnapped and molested but the duo had disappeared when the police checked the beachside.

Citing lack of substantiated evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the two engineers of kidnap bid and groping the student.

The ruling remains subject to appeal.