Special pardon frees soldier convicted on rape charge

A soldier who was convicted and sentenced to three years in jail for raping an Ethiopian woman has been pardoned.

Dubai Criminal Court had previously convicted the soldier of rape and sentenced him to three years in jail, but acquitted his friend who was charged with him.

Yesterday, the court of appeal upheld the acquittal and the judge announced that the convicted soldier’s appeal petition had been dropped because a special pardon had been issued.

In April last year, the 22-yearold Emirati denied the rape charge and told Dubai Criminal Court that the woman was his girlfriend and they often had consensual sex. His friend and co-accused, an inspector, 20, denied a charge of attempted rape and was found not guilty.

Prosecutors said that the incident happened on November 29 last year in Naif.

The 22-year-old woman told investigators that she had been invited to dinner by the soldier. Just before 10pm on the day of the alleged incident, he picked her up and drove to a deserted area. Only when he had stopped the car, she said, did she notice the man’s friend in the back seat.

“His friend stepped out of the car then he [the soldier] locked the doors and jumped on top of me. He punched me in the stomach and threatened to cut my throat and throw my dead body in the desert,” the woman said.

The man overpowered her, she said, raping her for about 10 minutes before getting out of the car and inviting his friend to have sex with her.

“When he [the friend] got into the car, I begged him and cried and pleaded that if he had any sisters, to think of them and not touch me. So he stopped and got out of the car,” the woman said.

The two then drove her back to her neighbourhood, where the woman said she saw a police patrol and told them about what happened. The police chased the car and apprehended the two men.

A policeman said that he and a colleague saw the victim getting out of a black Toyota Camry at about 5am. “She was crying so I asked her what was wrong. She pointed at the Camry and said something bad happened.”

The medical report said traces of the soldier’s DNA were found on the woman’s body, but the report could not confirm whether the sex had occurred without consent as no signs of force were found on the woman’s body.

A medical report into the assault could not confirm that force had been used against the Ethiopian victim