Courts

Footballer ‘raped a mother in hotel room after five-star dinner on Palm Jumeirah’

The Emirati is accused of plying his Lebanese friend with alcohol before raping her in her hotel room.

Salam Al Amir
Salam Al Amir

August 03, 2017

An Arabian Gulf League footballer invited a Lebanese mother to dinner then allegedly raped her in a hotel room on the Palm Jumeirah, a Dubai court heard on Thursday.

Prosecutors said the 29-year-old Emirati called his female friend on March 26 and asked her if she would join him for food at a five-star hotel.

“He told me I can bring my friend and he will bring his friend as well, so I did,” said the 36-year-old woman.

The defendant, who The National cannot name, picked her and her friend up from her apartment at about 9.30pm that day, she said. They arrived at the hotel and found that he had booked her a room for the night and one for himself.

The two women headed to the room then to the swimming pool before later meeting with the defendant and his friend at the hotel restaurant.

“The four of us had dinner, after which our friends left the hotel, so I headed to my room. He walked me back then remained at the reception - he told me he still had to finalise his booking,” said the woman.

The accused called her a few minutes after she got into her room, she said, and asked for a mobile phone charger. When he came to her room to pick it up, he had some alcohol with him and offered her some.

“After we had a few drinks, he started flirting with me and he got closer to me, so I pushed him. He pushed me against the wall then dragged me by my hair and threw me on the bed, after which he raped me,” she said. “I resisted him but he was stronger.”

The woman told prosecutors that she was crying and begging the defendant to allow her to leave the room but he refused, fearing that she would go to police.

“I told him if he wanted to kill me just go ahead and do it. If not, let me leave, for the sake of my children,” said the woman.

He let her go then she told hotel security and they called police who arrived and arrested the defendant. The woman was referred to Rashid Hospital.

The defendant was not present in court on Thursday morning to face a rape charge.

“He would have come if it was not for his son’s serious illness, your honour,” the defendant’s lawyer said to judges.

The next hearing is on September 18.

Brief scores:

Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first

Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)

Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15

Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)

Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”