Driver accused of rape tells court woman was trying to frame him

27-year-old says she left bag in car to blackmail him

DUBAI // A driver accused of raping and robbing his female friend told the Dubai Criminal Court that she was trying to frame him.

“I didn’t rape her, the sex happened with her consent. As for the theft, she deliberately left her bag in my car to frame me and blackmail me,” said the 27-year-old Pakistani.

Records showed that the defendant befriended the Fil- ipina saleswoman through WhatsApp, months before the alleged incident on June 6.

“He invited me to Suhoor and picked me up at about 1.30am,” said the 32-year-old woman.

She told prosecutors that he stopped the car in a dark, deserted area, grabbed her by the hair and started physically assaulting her before he allegedly ripped off her clothes and raped her as she begged him to stop. “He stole my bag with my phone and bank cards to prevent me from calling police,” said the woman, who said she was then thrown out of the suspect’s car in Oud Al Mutainah.

A Sri Lankan security guard saw the woman being ejected from the car and rushed to help her. “The car’s door was still open as it sped off,” said the guard, 41, adding that the woman was crying and screaming “help me, help me”. The guard handed his phone to the woman and she used it to call police. The suspect was arrested and the woman’s bag was found in his apartment.

“He told me he deleted all data related to him from the woman’s phone so that we wouldn’t get to him,” a policeman said. DNA samples found on the woman’s clothes matched that of the suspect. He denied rape and theft charges in court. The next hearing will be on October 3.