MAN GETS LIFE BEHIND BARS FOR RAPE - Justice prevail!
Man gets life behind bars for rape, assault
Publish Date: GULF TIMES Friday,23 January, 2009, at 12:42 PM Doha Time
By Nour Abuzant
A MAN has been sentenced to life imprisonment for abducting two Filipinas and brutally raping one of them in the back of his car.
The Doha Court of First Instance heard that the Omani defendant kidnapped the two women by posing as a police offer last February.
Claiming he was taking them to a station for interrogation, he instead drove into the desert where he raped one of them and sexually assaulted the other.
The Omani, who denied the charges, has lodged an appeal.
According to legal papers, the two Filipinas – in their early 20s – had been in the car of two Syrian friends close to midnight on February 5, 2008 when a vehicle flashed its lights to stop them.
Following a short chase, the Omani came level to the car, wound down his window and asked to see the driver’s documents.
He claimed to be a police officer and made an act of talking to traffic control.
In panic the two Syrians fled leaving the women on the side of the road.
The Omani then accused them of having illicit relations and demanded they accompany him to the police station.
Instead, the 24-year-old defendant drove them to the desert where he raped one of them and subjected the other to sexual abuse.
According to the victims, the Omani became alarmed when he saw another car approaching them. He jumped into his vehicle and threw the women’s clothes out to them.
After driving around the area and removing his car’s number plate he returned to the women and took them back to their accommodation.
They immediately reported the crime and the police managed to apprehend the Omani within hours.
One of the woman told police she had noticed some sort of written code on one of the seats of the vehicle, which proved to be true. The two Filipinas also picked the rapist out of a police line-up on several occasions. They further identified his car.
A forensic report revealed scratches and bruises on the women that “resulted from resisting a violent pressure”.
A lawyer for the defendant claimed the victims’ testimonies were unreliable due to a number of contradictions, but the court found otherwise.
The presiding judge ruled that the women’s accounts were coherent enough and that small differences did not diminish their credibility.
The court convicted the Omani of impersonating a policeman, committing rape and carrying out a kidnap.
He was sentenced in line with the strongest offence committed, that of rape. A life prison term is for 25 years. After completing the sentence, he will be deported.
