Warrants issued against 14 men

Arrest warrants were issued against prosecution witnesses who failed to show up yesterday in the trial of 14 men accused of gang raping an Asian woman.  The Thai woman was reportedly sexually assaulted by the accused in three different locations, including inside a vehicle in less than 24 hours on January 30 this year.

According to court files, the victim was initially abducted by the first and second accused while she was heading to her Juffair home. "I was walking alone in Juffair when two men approached me. They offered to have sex with me and I refused, and suddenly they forcefully dragged me inside the car," the defendant said in her statement.

She added that they took her to the third defendant's house in A'ali, where she was raped by ten men, one man at a time. "After they raped me, I was robbed by the house owner, who took my mobile as well as 1000 Saudi riyals (BD100), before another man (the eleventh defendant) took me to his car, where he also raped me.

"He then drove me to a farm, where I was again sexually assaulted by three other men. I had a ring in my finger which was also stolen by the car owner."

The victim's boyfriend who was in UAE on the day of the incident told prosecutors that she had texted him for help. "She shared with me her location before her phone went off, and I forwarded to my friend so he could go to check what was wrong with her," he told prosecutors. "He reached a place, where some men were there. And when he asked them if they saw a Thai woman in the neighbourhood, they said no," he added. But it turned out that they were among the accused, according to court files.