Convicted cook must serve sentence

DUBAI // A cook convicted of working as a prostitute must serve his six-month jail term, a Dubai court has ruled.

Two jobless young men, aged 21 and 29, were sentenced in June to six months in jail each for having consensual sex with the man.

One of them appealed against the sentence but Dubai Court of Appeals upheld it. On November 30 last year, police received a call from the cook, 25, who said he was assaulted by two men.

“When we arrived to Al Bar- sha 2, where the cook was, we noticed swelling in his face. We asked him what happened and he said a couple of men had attacked him,” a Yemeni policeman, 39, told the court.

The cook told officers that the men kidnapped him and pushed him into a car, then took him to a villa where they raped him and stole Dh3,000, his identity card and mobile phone.

His testimony was documented and he was referred to hospital, the policeman said.

“But later, when we resumed questioning him, he changed his testimony and said the men were his friends and that he was working as a prostitute,” said the officer.

He said the cook told police that he had met the two men for a meal before agreeing to have sex for money. The two later assaulted the cook and he lost consciousness.

The 21-year-old man denied the charges of assault and theft but admitted to having sex with the cook. The other man pleaded guilty to all the charges.

At an earlier hearing, the cook denied the charge of prostitution. He will be deported after completing his sentence.