Dubai: Three men were handed different imprisonments for forcing a 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 men stopped them at 2.30am.
The men 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 assailants ganged up against the woman, forced her to strip at knifepoint and then abused her sexually.
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.
Police arrested three men and two teenagers.
On Sunday, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed an Emirati defendant and another man, who doesn’t have personal identification papers, for 15 years each for raping the Kenyan woman at knifepoint.
Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi also jailed a Pakistani defendant for 10 years for molesting the woman and attempting to rape her.
According to the primary ruling, the Pakistani and other defendant [who doesn’t have an identification] will be deported after serving their jail terms.
They were also convicted of consuming alcohol and threatening to kill the Kenyan man.
The trio pleaded not guilty and refuted their sex-related charges before the court.
The 41-year-old woman said she spotted around five men 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 told prosecutors.
The Kenyan friend told prosecutors that the suspects threatened them with a knife and a rock.
A policeman testified that they were alerted about a problem near Al Quoz.
“Once we arrived at the location, we found the Kenyan woman … she told 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,” the policeman told prosecutors.
The teenaged defendants are being tried before Dubai Juveniles Court.
Sunday’s ruling remain subject to appeal within 15 days.
