*** Court to watch CD in rape case | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Court to watch CD in rape case

The High Criminal Court yesterday sought to play a CD containing the paperwork of the case of 14 men accused of gangraping an Asian woman.

The Thai woman was reportedly sexually assaulted by the men at 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 defendants 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 had taken her to the third defendant’s house in A’ali, where she was raped by 10 of the defendants.

“After they raped me, I was robbed by the house owner of my mobile as well as 1,000 Saudi riyals (BD100), before another man (the 11th defendant) took me to his car, where he 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 the 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 that he could go to check what was wrong with her,” he told prosecutors.

“He reached a place, where there were some men. 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 some of the men who raped the woman, according to court files.

The case was adjourned until November 30 for the Public Prosecution to play the CD of the case.