A Bangladeshi man has been sentenced to life in prison after trafficking a teenage girl into the UAE and forcing her into prostitution.
The 44-year-old man arranged to have the 17-year-old fly to the Emirates from her own country on a tourist visa.
After picking her up from the airport in February last year, he took her to an apartment in Al Qusais and raped her.
He then threatened to beat the girl regularly if she did not agree to prostitute herself.
“I am the eldest in my family and my parents can’t work so I agreed to his offer to come and work for him,” the teenager told the court.
For the next eight months the girl was forced to work as a prostitute and was also repeatedly raped by her captor. She was only rescued when undercover police officers raided the brothel.
Appearing in court last January, the Bangladeshi defendant denied charges of rape, human trafficking and facilitating prostitution.
But this week he was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to life, followed by deportation.