A woman accused a driver of kidnapping and trying to rape her by veering off the road to a deserted area but the man said he only went to the mosque to pray.

The unnamed woman told an Abu Dhabi court that the man did try to rape her three months after he agreed to transport her daily to and from Dubai in his private car although he does not have a taxi licence.

The man denied the charges, saying she only reported him because she could not pay him Dh3,000 transport fees and that he kept pressing her to pay.

“The man told court that the woman said he went out of the road and tried to kidnap her….he said he did go out of the road but only to enter the mosque and pray…when he came back, he found that she had fled,” Albayan daily said.

It said the unidentified driver asked court to drop all charges against him and let him return to his home country after spending some time in prison.