Woman 'duped' into having consensual sex

Woman ‘duped’ into having consensual sex

A 30-year-old woman charged with having consensual sex outside of marriage claims she believed she was married to her live-in partner...

August 18, 2009 5:20 by Dana El Baltaji

A 30-year-old woman charged with having consensual sex outside of marriage claims she believed she was married to her live-in partner, a 32-year-old Emirati businessman, reports The National.

Yusri Saad, the woman’s lawyer, told the Dubai Court that his client believed that she and her partner, also arrested on the same charges, were married in 2006.

The couple was arrested in January 2009 when the Emirati man called the police and accused his partner of stealing his watches. When the police arrived at their apartment, she produced a marriage certificate, which the police found to be forged. The couple was subsequently charged with having consensual sex and forging an official document.

“My client cannot read Arabic and did not know that this was a forged document,” said her lawyer in court. “She testified that she was told to sign on an Arabic language document at the Dubai courts complex in 2006 which was handed to her by another Emirati man with her husband. She believed that this was her marriage certificate,” he added.

“The fact of the matter is that she was conned into sleeping with him,” he said.

The trial continues.