A Dubai-based policeman, who previously sought leniency in a rape case claiming that he married the victim, has been jailed for six months.
The off-duty officer pleaded not guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance.
The defendant's legal representative argued that his client did not rape the woman, and asked for either a lenient punishment or suspended imprisonment, claiming that the woman had married him and dismissed her complaint.
“She is my wife … she moved into my house since five months now,” the man told the court, according to Gulf News.
Records provided in court show that the 28-year-old policeman met the Emirati woman, who works in aviation, in 2016, when they were both working at Dubai International Airport (DXB).
Subsequently, after lengthy phone conversations, they became friends and the defendant proposed to get married.
In March, the accused asked to meet with the woman to discuss future marriage plans. They drove around Dubai before parking his vehicle between some villas with the engine running.
He then raped the woman. Shortly after the attack, he drove the woman back to her car.
The victim drove directly to the nearest police station and reported the incident.
“We started communicating over the phone. I informed him that I had been married before. We chatted over the phone for nearly six months before he disappeared suddenly for reasons that I did not know. In March, he resumed communication and told me he still wanted to marry me. When I sat with him in his car to discuss our marriage details, he jumped on me and raped me. I shouted and cried for help, but to no avail. I do not know if anybody heard me or saw us. Later, I reported him to the police, but then I waived my complaint because I wanted to be a wife and we got married,” she told the local news outlet.
The judge's ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.