'Cabbie told me Burj Khalifa was in his room'

A 19-year-old mentally challenged woman, who has accused a taxi driver of rape, was easily deceived into believing she was in the Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Court heard as part of the testimony in the case.

The doctor who examined the victim, ZM, from the Comoros, told the court that the victim suffers from “mental retardation” and “can be easily led by others without any objection from her side”.

When asked if ZM might offer sex without resistance due to her mental status, the doctor replied to Judge Izzat Abdul Ilah in the affirmative.

First Lieutenant Obaid Dhaen who testified before the court said that when the victim came to the Naif Police station to complain about being raped, she said that a taxi driver told her “that Burj Khalifa is in his room and asked her to get in with him”.

“As she got into the room, the driver started groping her and then had sex with her,” the police officer reported to the court what the victim had told him.

The victim told the officer that she took a bus from Sharjah to Dubai to visit Burj Khalifa.

After getting off in Dubai, she stopped a taxi and asked the driver to drop her to her destination.

The driver told her that he will drop her and asked her to get into the car and so she did. Instead he drove her to a building where he asked her to accompany him into a room on the ground floor, after telling her that ‘Burj Khalifa is inside the room’.

Case Background

According to court records, on November 7, the victim, ZM, from the Comoros Islands, reported to Naif police station that she had been raped by a taxi driver in a flat in a building at Fareej Al Marrar area.

The victim could not guide the police officer easily to the building in Fareej Al Marrar area. However, she succeeded in recognising the location in the end.

Upon reaching the flat, the police arrested, AM, a 50-year-old Bangladeshi manager of a hotel in the area who had rented the flat to the taxi driver, but claimed he did not know that the driver was accompanying a woman into the room.

He also told investigators that he usually rented the flat which consists of two bed-rooms and a bathroom to drivers to rest, on hourly an basis.

Two days later, police arrested AF, 33, in Hor Al Anz area. DNA tests proved sexual intercourse had taken place.

The victim was referred to Rashid Hospital to check her mental and psychological status and whether her condition was a result of the rape.

Rashid Hospital reported that the victim is suffering from moderate mental retardation that had resulted from a road accident when she was two-years-old.

It also reported that the victim cannot be held responsible for her behaviour and acts and can be sexually exploited and abused.

The records do not mention anything about the victim's parents.

The taxi driver is accused of rape and the hotel manager is accused of helping the accused in committing the crime by offering a place for the deed.

Head of Prosecution Mohammed Hussain asked the court to implement stiff penalty against the two accused.

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