Woman dragged from lift in rape bid

A 26-year-old man allegedly tried to rape a woman after he dragging her from a lift through the corridor to his apartment, a court heard on Tuesday. The Emirati defendant managed to push the 40-year-old Filipina inside his rented hotel apartment in Al Qusais and was about to rape her but stopped short on hearing someone knocking on the door. He stood trial in the Court of First Instance on the charges of attempt to rape, kidnap with the use of force and consumption of liquor. He claimed during investigation that he grabbed the woman as he was drunk. The complainant told the prosecutor that the incident happened when she went to visit her girlfriend in the hotel apartment building around 6.30am. As she entered the building, she saw the defendant talking with the receptionist. As she got inside the lift, the defendant also followed her. As the lift was approaching seventh floor, the man suddenly grabbed her shoulders and arms and pulled her out and dragged her through the corridor by holding her waist and an arm as she resisted and shouted. He rang the bell of his apartment and pushed her inside after a man opened the door. She went and sat on a chair. At that moment, someone knocked on the door. As she kept screaming loudly and hysterically, the defendant signalled to her that he would slit her throat if she did not keep quiet. The knocking continued and it appeared that it was a woman at the door. The other man who was in the flat told her to go inside the bedroom, but she seized the opportunity and ran out through the front door as the defendant was standing outside and talking to the woman who knocked on the door. She was in a state of panic and ran down the stairs. An Indian, 24, who works as an accountant, said during investigation that he was in the defendant’s apartment when the latter dragged a Filipina inside. He heard her screaming “don’t kill me, I don’t want to die”. He said the defendant and he had been having drinks with other people earlier in the apartment. He added that the woman managed to escape when the defendant got busy talking to the latter’s Moroccan girlfriend who knocked on the door. A police lieutenant confirmed that the woman filed a complaint more than two weeks after the incident in February. The footage recorded by the building’s CCTV camera showed the defendant dragging the woman to his apartment.