Most cases of >sexual assault involve a female victim and a male perpetrator. But, that doesn't mean the reverse doesn't happen. Recently, three women in Dubai assaulted an Iraqi man after luring him to a flat for sexual intercourse. Upon arrival to the apartment, three women robbed him of 57,000 dirhams ($15,517) in cash.
This week, the women, all African nationals, were sentenced to three months in prison by a Dubai court and will be deported after serving their jail terms. Turns out, the man wasn't so innocent after all. Dubai's Public Prosecution charged the victim with "soliciting prostitution" alongside a fine of 5,000 dirhams ($1,361). He was also deported.
It all began when the 45-year-old Iraqi national arrived to Dubai back in January. At the time, he met a woman who he believed to be a Swedish student via a dating app. Both had agreed to meet at the woman's apartment in Al Quoz, a residential and commercial district in the southern part of the city. As soon as the victim arrived, he was attacked by a group of women.
"The apartment door opened and five African women dragged me inside and physically abused me," the man said, according to Gulf News.
The man initially gave one of the women 1,600 dirhams ($435), but after searching him, they found more cash in his pockets.
"They were so happy when they found this amount of cash that they stopped searching me," the man said.
"I was terrified that they would kill me so I pretended to have breathing problems so they would let me go."
He was ultimately let go. That's when he informed the building's security officers who then notified the Dubai Police. When the police arrived, the women attempted to escape through the window. One Emirati police officer told Gulf News that they chased them by foot after their attempted escape.
"We arrested three of them and the victim identified them before taking them to Bur Dubai police station."
The three women were charged with robbery. A verdict is expected later this month.
Robberies in the UAE are pretty common
According to the UAE-based Security Industry Regulatory Agency, theft is the >most common crime to be carried out in Dubai, followed by robberies.
In 2018, the agency released a list of the top six crimes to be carried out in the emirate. Theft topped the list, followed by robbery, domestic burglary, fraud, sexual assault, and finally criminal damage.
However, not all emirates are the same. For example, the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi is actually one of the >safest cities in the world. In 2017, the city scored the lowest crime index of 13.09 in a report published by Numbeo, the world's largest database of user-contributed data about cities and countries worldwide.