The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A labourer who trafficked and sexually assaulted a poor girl to ‘prepare’ her for prostitution was on Sunday jailed for 25 years.

The Asian defendant, 44, made use of the 17-year-old Bangladeshi girl’s poverty to lure her to Dubai to work in the flesh trade. He started abusing her and transporting her from apartment to apartment to meet clients.

He threatened to amputate her if she failed to meet more clients. The Dubai Criminal Court convicted him of human trafficking and raping a minor. It sentenced him for 25 years in jail to be followed by deportation. On the record, the girl explained to prosecutors that he processed her travel documents in February 2018 and exaggerated her age from 17 to 25 so she could come to the country. She was then forced to streetwalk.

“I accepted to work because I had a pressing need for money to look after my hard-up parents and young siblings. He changed my age in the passport, picked me up from the airport and took me to a Dubai flat,” she said.

He abused her then notified her she was ready for the job. He started delivering her to various flats. She would spend one to two weeks in a given flat and see around four people every day. He kept pocketing proceeds.    

“He would deduct Dhs1, 500 every month and wire it to my parents,” she said and complained that the defendant abused her several times. He was the one managing her work and that of several streetwalkers. He facilitated prostitution by delivering streetwalkers to various brothels and would collect Dhs100 from each client. Besides, he had affairs with some streetwalkers. Three streetwalkers testified against him.  

A lieutenant testified that a source alerted the police an underage girl was being sexually exploited at the hands of the defendant in Al Qusais. On Sept.23, an undercover cop rang the flat’s bell posing as a client A brothel mistress opened for him. He pointed to the girl among seven women, paid Dhs200, entered a room with her and signalled to the police team. Cops discovered there was a tiny camera at the flat’s entrance.

They stormed the flat, detained streetwalkers and rescued the girl. The defendant upon arrest confessed to have been in a relationship with one but denied having exploited the girl or facilitated prostitution.  Cops searched his mobile phone and landed on several Whatsapp messages pertaining to delivering streetwalkers, in addition to a photo of him with the girl. They seized paraphernalia from three bedrooms.