Man gets six months for raping girlfriend in park

DUBAI // A man who raped his 24-year-old girlfriend but claimed the sex was consensual was sentenced to six months in prison this morning.

AS, 34, from Kyrgyzstan, who was also charged with drinking alcohol illegally, told the court he was an educated man with a degree in engineering and should not be detained like a criminal. The victim dropped the charges against him before the first court hearing in January.

AS confessed he and the victim had sex in a small park behind a residential building in Discovery Gardens, records show.

Prosecutors said he visited the woman in September, and they sat in the park and drank alcohol. He harassed her, and when she rejected his advances, he pushed her onto the grass and raped her.

YZ told prosecutors she ran to her apartment after the encounter and called the Jebel Ali police station. A forensics report showed no signs of rape.

AS will be deported on the charges of rape and public indecency; he was fined Dh1,000 for drinking.

The verdict can be appealed within 15 days.

salamir@thenational.ae