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29 March 2024

Girl tells Dubai court she went with 'rapists' willingly

Published
By Eman Al Baik

The 19-year-old French girl, who was allegedly raped by two Emirati men in the house of one of them and then thrown out on the road unconscious, told the Dubai Criminal Court that she had gone with her rapists to their house willingly.

WB, a commerce student in France, told the jury that she met AI, 23, and SS, 34, both Emiratis, in the reception of a hotel and then went with them to their house.

“That was the first time I had met them. I did not know them before that day. They were wearing swimming outfits and I was wearing a normal dress,” she told the jury.

The two accompanied the girl to the hotel’s swimming pool.

“We stayed at the swimming pool chatting for about an hour and a half before going to their house,” she said.

According to victim, the two men initially suggested to the girl to go out to listen to music with other people which she accepted.

After getting into their car, they said that they needed to go home to change their dress and have some alcohol before going out, which she accepted, she recalled before the jury.

“They brought alcohol bottles and put them on the table. We were watching TV and after consuming about three glasses of whisky, I became unconscious.

"I do not know what happened. I was unconscious until I woke up in the hospital. In the hospital, I was told that I was raped,” the victim told the jury and started weeping.

When asked whether she thought she was drugged, the victim initially answered that she does not think so and then said: “I don’t know.”

“The two men and I, and a third man who came later to the house, were sitting and watching TV and I was drinking whiskey and waiting for them to get ready to go out. I did not feel anything wrong. None of the men behaved wrongly or come close to me,” the girl told the jury when asked whether she felt there was anything to worry about while in the house.

“After having alcohol, I fell unconscious and woke up in hospital,” she said.

When asked how often she drank, she replied that she never drank while in France and, after coming to the UAE, this was the third time in her life that she consumed alcohol.

The girl denied remembering if she had stripped and danced completely naked. When the judge asked her how she does not have any memories of two men who had forcible sex with her, violated her virginity and assaulted her, the girl started weeping again and told the jury that she does not want to answer the question.

Then, the presiding judge, who asked the secretary to record whenever the girls wept during her testimony, asked the attendants to leave the courtroom.

In a previous hearing, Corporal Ali Mohammed told the court that he saw the girl lying in the sand with her body’s lower part completely naked near his house at a construction site in Barsha at 6.40am.

“I had finished my duty and returned to my home in Barsha at around 6.30am. As I used to walk every day, I went down again and started walking.

“While I was walking in the area near where I live, I saw a woman with her lower part completely naked lying on her side near the gate of a construction site. I came close and tried to talk to her but she did not answer. I went back home, called the police and returned with my wife who covered the girl’s body. An ambulance and police patrol arrived and then she started waking up. She said she was French,” testified the corporal.

According to the records, WB, the 19-year-old victim, told investigators that she met AI and SS in the Sheraton Hotel in JBR and agreed to accompany them later in the evening. AI took her in his Nissan Patrol to the house of a third man where they were to have a party.

The woman had alcohol and fell unconscious until she woke up in the hospital. In the hospital she was told that she was sexually assaulted. She had bruises on her neck, arms and legs.

Police arrested AI, 23, who admitted to meeting the victim at the open beach in JBR in the afternoon. Later in the evening, he picked her in his Nissan Patrol, passed by a friend’s house and accompanied the girl to a third man’s house.

AI admitted having sex with the victim but claimed it was consensual. “She was so drunk that she danced naked and then started breaking the furniture before we could control her. We sprayed water on her face to wake her up but in vain. We then put on her dress against her will. My other two friends took her out of the villa and left her in Barsha,” AI told investigators.

Police arrested SS, 34, Emirati, who admitted that after his friend had sex with the girl, they both took her out of their friend’s villa and left her in Barsha.

Forensic reported that the girl was subjected to sexual assault during which she lost her virginity. She was also subjected to sodomy and had bruises in different areas of her body.

Forensic also reported sperms of SS and DNA tests of a swab taken from under the victim’s nails proved that it contained blood and cells of AI.

SS is accused of having forcible sex with the victim and violating her virginity.AI is accused of undressing the victim and defilement under duress and ejaculating on her belly after sexually assaulting her. 

Witness weeps

The Criminal Court ordered release of the passport of a Sri Lankan witness in the French girl’s rape case on humanitarian grounds.

The witness, NW, 33, who holds a farm worker’s visa, was doing cleaning work for the accused AA.
 
“AA used to call me and ask me to come to his house whenever it needed cleaning. On the day of the crime, AA asked me to come and clean the house. After finishing cleaning, police raided the house and questioned me,” the cleaner told prosecutors.

In a previous hearing, the presiding judge asked NW to give his testimony. NW stood before the jury and started weeping.

Then the presiding judge Maher Salamah Al Mahdi asked the two accused AI, 23, and SS, 34, to come to the dock.

The judge suspected that the witness could have been scared by any of the two accused and so he asked him if that was the case.

NW replied negatively. The judge asked him to calm down, make his testimony and answer his questions.

When the judge finished his questions, he asked the witness again why he had wept at the beginning of his testimony.

The witness started crying again and then uttered words that the translator could not understand and the translator asked him to repeat what he had said.

At this point, the judge started laughing and blamed himself for reminding the witness of the reason why he had wept earlier.

The witness, who speaks only his mother tongue, could not explain himself to the judge. However, the witness told the judge that his father had died.  The judge recited a verse from the Quran to comfort the witness and asked him to pray for his father.

The witness continued crying and told the judge that his child had a surgery and started weeping.

It took the witness about five minutes to let the the judge know that his passport had been seized because of the French girl’s rape case and that he was crying because he was unable to go home.

Sympathising with the witness, he judge ordered release of his passport, provided that it was not seized for any other case or complaint.