Dubai: Three men and two teenagers have been accused of forcing a woman secretary to ride with them on a motorbike to a desert area where they molested and gang-raped her at knifepoint.
The 41-year-old Kenyan secretary and her countryman friend were walking near Al Khail Gate when a group of five to seven men stopped them at 2.30am.
The men were said to have threatened the Kenyan man and woman with a knife and a rock when the woman tried to run away. They stopped her and forced her to ride with one of them on a motorbike to a desert spot.
After having threatened to kill the Kenyan man if he shouted or tried to follow them, the culprits, according to records, ganged up against the woman. They forced her to strip at knifepoint and raped her one at a time. Records said some men raped her and others molested her.
The secretary’s friend notified the police and a patrol team was dispatched to the location and the Kenyan woman was found at a nearby spot after combing the area for a while.
Three men and two teenagers were arrested and taken in for questioning.
Prosecutors charged a jobless Emirati and a jobless man, who doesn’t have personal identification papers, of raping the Kenyan woman at knifepoint.
A Pakistani employee was charged with molesting the woman and attempting to rape her.
The three men were jointly accused of consuming alcohol and threatening to kill the Kenyan man.
According to the accusation sheet, two teenagers were also charged with molesting and raping the woman.
The three adult suspects pleaded not guilty and refuted their sex-related charges before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.
They also denied the charge of having threatened to kill the Kenyan man.
They only pleaded guilty to drinking liquor.
The 41-year-old woman claimed to prosecutor that she spotted five to seven man running towards her while she was walking beside her countryman friend.
“I ran towards the main road … then one of them pulled me towards a motorbike and forced me to ride with another suspect. They took me to a poorly lit spot where they raped me one at a time,” she testified to prosecutors.
The Kenyan friend claimed to prosecutors that the suspects threatened them with a knife and a rock.
A policeman testified to prosecutors that they were alerted about a problem near Al Quoz.
“Once we arrived at the location, we found the Kenyan woman … she claimed to us that she had been gang-raped and molested at knifepoint. The man also said that the suspects threatened to kill him. We found the knife thrown at a nearby location,” he claimed to prosecutors.
The suspects were quoted as admitting to prosecutors that they had molested and sex with the woman.
The court will appoint a lawyer to defend the suspects when it reconvenes on October 4.
The teenaged suspects are being tried before Dubai Juveniles Court.
