A man in his 30s has been charged in Norway with raping a woman during a trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, according to Nettavisen. The indictment also accuses him of repeatedly striking her on the head and body with both an open hand and a clenched fist, and of later offering her one million Norwegian kroner to keep her from giving a statement to police.
The man denies the charges. His defence lawyer, Kvanvik, told Nettavisen that his client pleads not guilty and that he had nothing further to add.
According to the indictment as reported by Nettavisen, the violence described includes blows delivered with a watch wrapped around his fist, choking, and dragging the woman by her hair. The document further states that he threatened to kill her and people close to her, and that he said he could have her imprisoned in Dubai.
Why it matters
The case stands out for the allegation that the abuse did not end with the trip abroad. Prosecutors believe the man stayed in contact with the woman after they returned, pressured her not to explain herself in police questioning, and put a seven-figure sum on her silence. When she turned the offer down, he allegedly warned that he would harm people she cares about.
That element turns the matter into more than a prosecution for violence committed on foreign soil. It raises the question of whether a suspect tried to interfere with the investigation itself, and it places the credibility of the complainant at the centre of a case that is already heavily contested.
The man is described by Nettavisen as having a number of previous criminal convictions and as a well-known figure in Norway's criminal underworld. The outlet reports that the charges against him span both the events in Dubai and later violence against the same woman in Norway, which prosecutors say left her with a broken nose and fractures to several ribs.
What the indictment alleges happened in Dubai
According to Nettavisen's account of the charge sheet, the woman was raped several times and in different ways. Before that, the man is alleged to have taken her phone so that she could not call for help.
The indictment also describes an attempt to burn her with a hair straightener. That effort failed, according to the charge, because the device was not hot enough.
The threats recorded in the document are broad in scope. Beyond the alleged threat to kill her and those she is close to, prosecutors say he told her he was in a position to have her locked up in Dubai. Nettavisen quotes the indictment directly on this point.
At some stage the woman managed to get away from the man in Dubai and make her way back to Norway, her representative Lindbeck told Nettavisen.
Lawyer: the woman remains deeply affected
Lindbeck, who speaks for the complainant, said the case and the events behind it have left her strongly marked. Lindbeck described her as someone who was vulnerable to begin with and said the difficulties she faces have grown worse since the alleged incidents.
The woman's escape from Dubai and return to Norway is central to the account her side gives, because the contact between the two is said to have continued after she was back home. It is in that period that police allege the offer of one million kroner and the follow-up threats were made.
Nettavisen reports that it was unable to reach prosecutor Monica Krag Pettersen for comment.
The case is expected to proceed through the Norwegian courts, where the man will have the opportunity to answer the allegations against him. Nettavisen's reporting indicates that he contests all of them.
