DUBAI: A businessman and an unemployed cohort who managed a brothel and shared prostitution proceeds with streetwalkers have lost an appeal against their three-year-jail term.

The Asian businessman, 46, who owned the brothel and his cohort, 26, who worked as a pimp/watchman first appeared in court over allegations they trafficked and forced two underage girls into prostitution.

They ran a prostitution den in Frij Murar area and fixed a camera on its door. The businessman invited streetwalkers to work and shared proceeds with them. He slept with one of the girls upon her consent.

He possessed 12 cans of alcohol. He hired the cohort knowing that the latter absconded from a cleaning company, overstayed his visa and failed to pay due fines. The cohort was charged with working illegally.

The Criminal Court cleared them of exploiting underage girls but jailed them for three years plus deportation for operating a brothel. It fined the businessman Dhs52,000 for facilitating prostitution and possessing alcohol.

The court additionally imprisoned the cohort for two months, for violating residency directorate laws. Both appealed seeking to challenge the ruling at the Dubai Appeals Court. However, they have lost the case.

The first teenager, 18, said, “I got divorced four months before coming to Dubai. My father was sick and my mother worked on a small field. Sometimes we had nothing to eat. I accepted to work abroad to help.”

Upon arrival she was taken to an apartment where she spent three days crying and refusing to work as a prostitute. A fugitive woman convinced her that prostitution was the only profitable job available.

The second one, 17, said she got divorced seven months before coming to Dubai. She was promised a  maid’s job. A man who helped process her passport lied about her age by stating that she was 25.

She accepted to travel so she could cater for her underprivileged father. She was transported to an apartment in Deira. She rejected prostitution for 15 days and insisted she had come to work as a maid. 

A fugitive man threatened to strip her, photograph her and publicise her explicit photos online. She gave in. She was taken to an apartment where she was confined and forced to work for them for a week.

She was taken to the businessman’s brothel where she worked for about five weeks. She and the first teen talked to clients about their plight. An informant learnt about it and alerted the police.

An Emirati captain, lieutenant and sergeant said that the police intercepted the businessman in the area on April.13 last year. He took them to the brothel. They knocked on the door and the cohort opened.

It was a studio apartment with four beds demarcated by curtains. The Police detained streetwalkers, seized alcohol and 14 mobile phones in addition to prostitution proceeds and paraphernalia.