Man accused of sex attack on boy

DUBAI // A government worker repeatedly raped a 14-year-old boy in his car last summer, a court heard yesterday.

MA, a 26-year-old Emirati, was charged with homosexual assault and threatening the boy.

Prosecutors told the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance that he raped the boy 10 times between June 14 and July 24. They also presented transcripts of text messages from MA's phone, in which they said he threatened to expose the boy as a homosexual in front of his family.

The boy said he met MA at Bin Sougat mall in Rashidiya, and that the man often offered him sweets.

"He was nice to me and always said good things to me," the boy said.

On June 14, said the boy, MA asked him to get in his car.

"He placed blinds over the windshield and sexually assaulted me," the boy said. "I was afraid, and whenever I asked him to stop, he told me he would inform my mother."

The boy's mother said she had noticed a change in the boy's demeanour. "I saw him with the man and asked him what was going on," she said.

MA "denied any knowledge of my son, but later my son confessed to me what was going on", she said.

After she reported the case to the police, the boy picked MA out in an identity parade. "The man said that this was a child's lie and that the boy wanted to get him in trouble," said an investigating officer.

"When we told him we would do a semen scan of his car, he said that was no problem because it was his car and he had the right to do whatever he wanted in private," the officer said.

MA denies the charges. The case was adjourned until December 28.

amustafa@thenational.ae