Dubai court jails Irishman and British woman for three months for ‘engaging in sexual activities’ in the back of a taxi
Dubai court jails Irishman and British woman for three months for ‘engaging in sexual activities’ in the back of a taxi
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A British woman and an Irish man have been jailed in Dubai after being accused of engaging in sexual activities in the back of a taxi.
Conor McRedmond, and Rebecca Blake, a £100,000-a-year recruitment consultant, were convicted despite DNA tests to show evidence of intercourse coming back negative.
Blake and McRedmond denied the charges of “breach of honour with consent” and committing “an indecent act in a taxi” when they appeared in court last month.
They pleaded guilty to one charge of consumption of alcohol in public.
The lawyer for the two said today that the court had sentenced them to a three-months in jail to be followed by deportation.
In addition the two were fined 3,000 dirhams (£512) each.
McRedmond and Blake admitted a charge of consuming alcohol after reportedly embarking on a 10-hour drinking binge on the day they were arrested.
The pair had met earlier that day in a hotel bar.
Their taxi driver, Qaiser Khan, 29, said he had picked up the pair following their all-day drinking sessions, he alleged that during the journey he looked in his rear view mirror and noticed Ms Blake had taken her top off.
According to police records during the journey Blake was straddling Mr McRedmond and was 'moaning for two minutes and making the sounds of a woman having sex'.
The driver then pulled over his vehicle when he spotted a police patrol car. He then beckoned a police officer, Abdullah Obaid Khamis, 22, over to the vehicle.
The officer said he saw the pair having sex in the car and tapped on the window to get their attention.
The case is the another in which Westerners appear to have fallen foul of UAE decency rules.
In 2008, a British couple were found guilty of engaging in sexual activity out of wedlock on a beach in Dubai.
They were also sentenced to three months in jail, then deportation - but subsequently had their jail terms removed at appeal.
Islam bans alcohol for Muslims, however, in UAE, non-Muslims can drink at most hotels and beach bars.
Expatriates make up more than 90 percent of the UAE's population.
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