DUBAI, 4 June 2008 — A free ride from a nightclub went horribly awry for a woman after the man who gave her the lift attempted to rape her. The 35-year-old woman, a Canadian national, claimed that she had gone to the man’s flat as a courtesy but that the man turned violent and tried to assault her.
The woman made the accusations during a hearing at the Dubai Criminal Court yesterday. The Dubai Public Prosecution charged the man, a 34-year-old Jordanian national, with attempted rape.
According to the woman’s statement, she had gone to a resort in Jumeirah where she met the accused who works as manager at a private company.
“While I was waiting for a taxi outside the hotel I saw him driving. He was drunk and I sympathized with him and offered to drive him home. When we arrived, he invited me to come in with him so that he could offer me hospitality,” she told the court.
After staying with the man for about half an hour she decided to leave. “When I was leaving, he grabbed me and tried to kiss me. I resisted and ran out of the open door,” she told the court.
The woman said when she realized that she had left her handbag in the man’s flat, she returned to the flat with the building’s guards. “When we knocked at the door, the man dragged me inside and locked the door. He pushed me into his bedroom where he started to take off my clothes,” said the woman.
She said she then used the keys in her hands to poke his eyes. “He started bleeding profusely. He became so enraged that he hit me several times. When he went to the bathroom to wash off the blood, I rushed outside, and a neighbor helped me and called the police,” she said.
