Man trafficked wife and forced her into prostitution, Dubai court hears

DUBAI // A husband brought his wife to the UAE and then threatened to kill her and their three children unless she became a prostitute, a court heard.

The 30-year-old wife of Indian A?S, 38, arrived in the UAE in 2011.

When men arrived at the couple’s home the husband would hide under the bed, pop out for groceries or even pretend to pass out from drinking while the visitors had sex with her as their children slept in the same room, prosecutors said.

They charged A?S with human trafficking and another Indian E?K, 34, was charged with having sex with the wife on several occasions against her will.

Both men denied the charges before the Dubai Criminal Court.

Prosecution records show the husband started asking his wife to have sex with E?K, who owned the room in which the couple of 13 years lived.

The woman refused but was beaten and deceived into having sex.

She told prosecutors her husband invited the landlord to their room without her knowledge and then told her he needed to get some groceries, demanding that she not lock the door.

The husband returned to find his wife crying and he responded by smiling and saying he was sorry.

Records show that, after this, many men started coming over to have sex with her while her husband either hid under the bed or pretended he had passed out.

Prosecutors said A?S would call customers and talk in a feminine voice, so it appeared it was his wife arranging the sordid meetings.

He later took his wife to nightclubs where he would sit her at a table and arrange for men in the club to have sex with her at their room.

The wife testified that she had been married to him since 1998 and that they had three children.

“When I told him about E?K flirting with me, he got furious as to why I neglected the man’s flirts and why I rejected him,” she said.

She recalled one incident where her husband demanded a man bring bottles of alcohol with him.

“When he came, they both drank the alcohol then my husband pretended he had passed out and the man had sex with me while my kids were sleeping in the room,” she said.

In March, the woman took advantage of her husband forgetting his mobile phone and called her sister in India to tell of her ordeal.

The sister called the husband of the family’s youngest sister, who lived in Abu Dhabi, and asked him to investigate.

He gave the wife a mobile phone to contact him.

After some time she called him and told him everything before the man contacted police.

On February 22, police followed the husband as he was taking his wife to a nightclub and arrested him.

The woman and the three children were taken to the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children.

The next hearing was scheduled for September 25.

salamir@thenational.ae