Dubai: An employee lost his appeal and will have to spend five years in jail for having forced sex with his maid in his bedroom while his wife was away in hospital.
The 29-year-old Emirati employee, R.A., was said to have exploited the fact that his wife was undergoing treatment in hospital before he forced his maid into the bedroom and had sex with her against her will in November.
The Dubai Appeal Court dismissed the man’s appeal and confirmed his five-year imprisonment on Sunday.
The accused had entered an innocent plea before the appellate court and denied that he dragged his Indonesian maid into the bedroom after claiming that he wanted her to iron his kandoura.
He also denied having forced himself on her and threatening to harm her before he had sex with her, contending that they had consensual sex.
“The court has upheld the five-year jail sentence against the defendant,” said presiding judge Rashid Al Sumairi in courtroom 20.
Prosecutors accused R.A. of using physical violence when he had sex with the maid.
The woman said her ordeal started ever since she started working for R.A.
“He used to harass me and touch me. He made sexual advances but I kept turning him down. I threatened to call his family if he ever touched or molested me. One day he called me and asked me to massage him at 10.30pm. The night when the incident happened, I woke up around 2.30am and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for R.A.’s wife who was in hospital. He came from behind and pulled me into his bedroom. He locked the door and removed the key… then he threw me on the floor and raped me. He twisted my arm when I tried to resist him,” said the maid.
Indonesian diplomats advised the victim to report the matter to the police once she took refuge at the Indonesian Consulate.
The defendant was taken into custody shortly after the woman complained.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.
