DUBAI // A Dubai police officer has been charged with the brutal rape of a tourist in Hatta.
The 24-year-old Japanese woman was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, raped and threatened with death by the 25-year-old Emirati SA, the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance was told. He denied the charges in court today.
Chief Prosecutor Khalid Al Zarooni asked the court to implement the death penalty if SA were convicted.
The officer was arrested after five months of investigation by the Dubai Police, Lt Col Ahmed Al Merri, Director of Criminal Investigations, told prosecutors.
On March 14, six days after the tourist arrived in Dubai, she took a public bus to Hatta, records show.
"I was trying to find the Hatta heritage village and was looking at the map trying to find instructions," she said.
About 1.25pm a black 4x4 with tinted windows arrived and the driver asked whether she was lost. He then offered her a ride to the heritage village.
According to her statement, he instead drove her to a deserted area, where he told her that if she did not have sex with him he would kill her. At that point, he slapped her, punched her and raped her in the front seat of the car.
She said she feared for her life and did not seek help immediately after SA dropped her off at the bus station.
"I had no confidence in anyone and I cannot speak English very well, so I took the bus and travelled back to Dubai," she told prosecutors.
The Dubai Police head of criminal investigations, the head of tourism security and and the chief criminal investigator of Hatta police collected DNA evidence and located all 4x4 car owners in the village, records show.
"SA was arrested after we contacted him numerous times and he refused to appear for questioning. We then convinced him and collected a DNA sample, which matched three samples collected from the victim," Lt Col Al Merri said.
The court will reconvene on December 14.
amustafa@thenational.ae
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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