Dubai: A taxi driver who was found guilty of trying to rape a passenger shortly after dropping her home and who was given a three-year jail term is seeking an acquittal.
The 26-year-old Bangladeshi driver, T.H., picked the 40-year-old Irish woman up from a hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road at around 4am and drove her to her home in Al Warqa.
Then he was said to have slyly made his way into her flat where he attempted to rape her three times before threatening to kill her.
The Dubai Court of First Instance jailed him for three years.
The defendant is due to appear before the Dubai Appeal Court soon.
Court records said shortly after dropping the woman in front of her building, T.H. took the woman’s contact number for future use.
Then he called her after a few minutes and invited himself into her home to give her back Dh50 that he claimed she had left in his taxi in February.
Prosecutors said the defendant repeatedly attempted to rape the woman in her flat, stole Dh200 from her and threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone about what he had done.
“I did not attempt to rape her and I did not threaten to kill her or steal her money,” he said in court.
When asked why he went to her flat, the accused said it was because she had left Dh50 in his taxi.
‘Good deed’
“I was trying to do a good deed…,” he told the court.
When asked why he entered her flat and took her Dh200, T.H. claimed that the woman gave it to him as a reward. However, he said the victim invited him in after he asked her for water.
The Irish woman testified that the incident happened shortly after she and her friend left a shisha cafe at the hotel.
“After he claimed that I had forgotten Dh50 in his taxi, I assured him that I had not. I told him to keep the money with the building’s security guard, but he asked for my flat number for reference. I saw him knocking on my door… when I took the money from him, he forced his way inside and asked me for a glass of water. Although I asked him to wait outside he came in. When I failed to convince him to leave, he pulled me towards him. He tried to rape me in the sitting room, bedroom and washroom,” she added.
Records said the defendant took money from the woman’s purse then threatened to kill her if she told anybody what happened.
A police lieutenant testified that the driver was arrested shortly after being identified through his workplace.
“During questioning, the defendant alleged that the woman asked him to massage her and that was when he desired her,” said the lieutenant.
