Dubai: A jobless man, who lured a young vendor to his house and tried to have sex with him before the latter ran away, has been jailed for a year.

The 27-year-old Emirati man visited a mobile phone store where the 18-year-old Syrian vendor works to fix his phone in December.

After repairing the mobile phone, the vendor gave the device to the Emirati, who insisted on the Syrian to provide him with his mobile number for future communication.

The victim provided the Emirati with the store’s contact number but the latter insisted on getting the vendor’s private number.

The jobless man visited the store on several occasions and befriended the Syrian by inviting him over to dinner at a fast food chain.

Having communicated with him via WhatsApp, one Friday the Emirati showed up at the store and kept the Syrian engaged and the latter missed his shuttle bus.

The defendant lured the Syrian to his car on the pretext of driving him home but ended up taking him for a quick dinner with a friend.

The Emirati took the Syrian to his house and persistently made him enter a side room where he tried to have sex with the victim, who resisted and ran away.

On Tuesday, the Dubai Court of First Instance jailed the Emirati accused for a year.

The victim outsmarted the 27-year-old defendant, according to records, and ran away from the room, hid outside the house until his friend and his father came to his rescue.

Two days later, the victim called the police who apprehended the Emirati.

The accused had threatened to have the vendor gang-raped by five of his friends if he did not surrender himself and allow him to have sex with him, said records.

The defendant pleaded not guilty.

The victim said the defendant tried to befriend him and offered him money.

“He constantly offered to take me out and buy me lunch or dinner. On the night of the incident, he made me miss my work shuttle and then offered to drive me home. We had dinner with his friend … and he paid. He lured me to his residence and asked me to undress to have sex but I refused. He threatened to have me gang-raped by his friends. Then I asked him ‘Why? Aren’t you enough?’. Then I took off my shoes in an attempt to make him think that I had agreed to have sex with him. Once he moved to the other side of the room, I opened the door, climbed the villa wall and jumped,” he said.

The ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.