'WhatsApp' rapist given 10 years in prison by Dubai court

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced an unemployed Emirati to 10 years in prison for raping a compatriot woman whom he had met on WhatsApp messenger.

Although FJ, 29, claimed that he had had consensual sex with the woman, the Court found him guilty of rape. The Prosecution had asked the Court to implement the stiffest penalty against the accused who was arrested on the Al Ain road with a woman who also told police that he had raped her a little while ago.

The victim FA, 24, unemployed Emirati, told investigators that a couple of months ago, she received a text message on What’sApp on her mobile to which she replied seeking identity of the sender.

“The sender called me after my reply and told me his name is Turki, and told me that he is a divorcee with a son and that he lived with his parents and had debts. Our text relationship developed into admiration and love and he told me his real name is ‘F’.

“The first time I saw him was when he came my house to collect a mobile phone that I gave him as his own had got damaged. I threw the phone to him through the car’s window and rushed back into my house.

“One day, I told him that there was a prospective fiancé so he asked me to meet him to discuss the subject of marriage. In the middle of February, I went with my friends to the Global Village where he came and I rode in his car without telling my friends.

“When he wanted to drive away, I asked him to stay and talk in the same place, but he refused and continued driving to a deserted area, claiming that he wanted to show me his family’s farm where he raped me in the car. After that, he drove me back to the Global Village where I met my friends.

“I did not tell them anything about what had happened. However, they noticed that my condition was not normal. I returned home and late at night I called a friend and told her what had happened. I also talked to FJ and asked him to marry me but he kept on delaying the matter.

“Because it was paining in my private parts, I asked him to take me to a hospital which he did. I went with him to the Iranian Hospital where the doctor told me that I had some infection and that I should be admitted to hospital. I refused and went back home. I had to visit the hospital again because of the pain and during my sickness he asked me for sex, but I refused.

“As he was delaying in marrying me although he violated my virginity, I lodged a complaint with the police. When he came to know, he asked me to drop the complaint or he would inform my mother about our relationship and threatened that he will claim that I am not a virgin.

“Though I dropped the complaint which I had lodged about a month after the rape and though he had said he would accompany his mother to my house to seek my hand in marriage, he called my mother and informed her about our relationship and claimed that I go out with him and that he was not the one who had violated my virginity. He continued calling my mother insisting that I drop the complaint and expressing readiness to marry me,” the victim testified.

The victim’s friend LS 23, Emirati, repeated the same testimony saying that the victim could not resist her rapist as she had a recent shoulder surgery. “She spoke to me at night. She was crying.  She told me that she was raped by ‘F’ who had taken her to a deserted area and raped her on the car’s seat. He had violated her virginity and cleaned the seat with his underwear which had thrown away in the same area. The victim did not notify the police about the rape, being scared of scandal and because she hoped that ‘F’ would marry her,” LS told investigators.

The victim’s 50-year-old Emirati mother testified that she got a call from the accused who asked for a grace period to arrange for the marriage against dropping the police complaint. He denied raping her and claimed that she was not a virgin.

“When I confronted my daughter, she told me that she was raped by him,” she testified.

The victim’s mother told investigators that she had got calls from a woman who claimed to be his mother and another who claimed to be his sister, asking her to drop the police complaint.

Forensic reported that it is difficult to determine when the woman lost her virginity due to the lapse of time since the incident. It also reported no sperms in her body.

The accused claimed to the police that after two months of knowing the victim, he had met her several times and had consensual sex with her thrice in his car. He denied raping her and claimed that she was not a virgin and that her cousin had violated her virginity. He admitted that she had asked him to marry her but he could not do that and asked for time as he did not have enough money.

The convict is also being prosecuted for other two similar rape cases.
 

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