Dubai: A 51-year-old divorced woman and a married clerk, who is half her age, were cleared of having illicit sex after they convinced a court that they had been unfoundedly accused.

The Filipina woman and the Egyptian man were accused of sex out of wedlock after the woman complained to the police that the clerk had beaten her up.

The woman, who is a divorced mother, was purported to have been in the villa that she shared with several persons including the 26-year-old Egyptian clerk (who is married) when he assaulted her in August.

The woman and the clerk were believed to have indulged in a heated argument in the room that they shared in Jumeirah area before the woman reported to the police that she had been beaten and bruised by the man.

During further police interrogation, the woman alleged that she had been having a sexual affair with the man for around a year since they stayed in the same room since 2016.

When questioned, the man alleged that he is married and had never had any form of sexual encounter with the woman, whom he called a “close friend”.

Prosecutors accused the couple of having sex out of wedlock.

When the suspects showed up before the Dubai Misdemeanours Court, the couple refuted prosecutors’ accusation that they had been having unmarried sex. They contended that they became close friends since they shared the same residence and maintained that they had never had sex.

Citing lack of corroborated evidence, the court acquitted the couple of having sex.

However, the Egyptian man was fined Dh2,000 for beating the woman. According to records, the single mother was cited as saying that she met the man a year ago and love blossomed between them before she moved in to stay at his residence.

She claimed that they had consensual sex several times and the last encounter was one week before she complained to the police that he had beaten her.

The man countered the woman’s claims of having a love affair between them.

The 26-year-old told interrogators that they were friends and that he had never had a sexual encounter with the 51-year-old.

In his police statement, the man said he got to know the woman only after she moved in to share the same place where he had been staying.

When the duo showed up in court, they firmly refuted the accusations and told the presiding judge that they had been unfoundedly accused of having sex.