DUBAI // A woman was kidnapped, robbed and raped and then sold into prostitution after she accepted a ride home from a man she did not know, the Dubai Criminal Court has been told.
Filipina A D, 32, was waiting for a taxi in Al Quoz when a car pulled up and offered her a lift to her home in Motor City in return for cash, the court heard.
The woman climbed into a rear seat. A short time later, the driver stopped at a petrol station and picked up two other men.
“Minutes later, one of them started molesting me. I tried to move away, but I was in the middle between the two,” said A D, adding one of the men took his clothes off.
A D offered them money and valuables in return for releasing her, but her pleas were ignored. All three then took turns raping her in the back of the car.
The victim told prosecutors that after the rape she tried to escape from the car, but was stopped when one of the men grabbed her leg.
“After my escape attempt, they tied both my hands and beat me up,” she said.
The men then took A D’s phone and cash before stopping at a shopping centre, where a woman got into the car with them.
“She told me that I would have to go with her to work as a prostitute. When I refused, she said it was my only option as the other was to leave me with the three men,” A D said.
They then drove to a villa where “I found another victim, also Filipina, locked up there”, A D said.
The villa’s front door was locked and guarded by two men. One of them, A D said, had sex with her and she was too scared to refuse.
“After the sex, he slept, so I climbed to a small opening in the kitchen wall and crawled out of the very small hole with much difficulty, then hid under a lorry the entire night,” said A D, who, in the morning, stopped a passer-by and asked for help. The man called police, who were able to track down the men from the car after checking CCTV cameras at the petrol station.
Bangladeshis M A, 30, and, A J, 33, were arrested at Sharjah Airport while returning to the country. Police are still searching for the third suspect. M A and A J were charged with rape, kidnap, robbery, issuing threats and human trafficking.
“They confessed to raping the woman and said they sold her for Dh3,000 and also asked the buyer to pay them Dh100 for petrol,” said Emirati policeman M A, 40.
Forensics confirmed that A D had been subjected to a forceful sex act.
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A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
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.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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England
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The Word for Woman is Wilderness
Abi Andrews, Serpent’s Tail
