Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Mohammed Yaseen, Staff Reporter

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced an African man and a woman to three years in jail to be followed by deportation on human trafficking charges.

The defendants lured a woman from the homeland of one of them on pretext of getting her a job. But after the victim arrived she was detained in an apartment that was a den of immoral activities with the help of two others who are still at large.

The case dates back to last June when an African girl filed a complaint with a patrol, which happened to be on a Dubai street, in which she said she was detained by African people, who raped her and forced her to be engaged in indecent activities.

According to the victim’s statement in the investigations, she received an offer from a friend to work as maid for a UAE family and she agreed because she was in dire need for money to support her family.

She added that her friend sent her an airway ticket and other expenses and received her at the airport before he led her to an African woman, who kept her inside a room and told her that she was going to live in the same apartment to work as a prostitute and not as a maid.

When the victim rejected her offer, the woman assaulted her with the help of her friend and two others and told her that she would have to work until she would settle Dhs20,000.

The victim stated that she tried to escape from the apartment more than once with the help of others but the gang members always kept an eye on her.

Three months later, the victim, with the help of another woman, pretended she was sick and had to buy medicines. She was allowed to go out with a gang member but managed to escape from him and went to a man from her homeland.

The man said he communicated with the gang members to get the victim’s passport but was lured into an apartment, where he was kept and assaulted until he told them where the victim was.

The gang members went to the given address and took the girl and the man to another apartment. While being transported in a vehicle to the other apartment, the victim saw a patrol and called for help. The defendant then ran away but was caught by the police and led them to where the African woman was staying.