Marcus Fakana, a British teenager, was cleared of rape charges in Dubai but faces a year in prison for having consensual sex with a 17-year-old girl.
A British teenager who was jailed in Dubai over a holiday romance was cleared of rape, but still faces a year in prison because his accuser was two weeks short of her 18th birthday. Marcus Fakana says he had a holiday romance with the 17-year-old girl at the Hilton Dubai Palm Jumeirah - but her mother reported him to the authorities after finding birth control pills in her daughter's luggage.
It is not clear whether the accusation of rape originally came from the girl's mother or was due to a misunderstanding or mistranslation by police officers, but the term 'raped by force' in Arabic appeared on the initial police report. But he was cleared after police reviewed hotel CCTV footage which showed the girl going into his hotel bedroom at 4am. However, the fact that she was 17 put her under Dubai's age of sexual consent and Marcus was convicted of having under-age sex. Marcus’s ordeal began in late August when the girl's mother – who MailOnline isn’t naming – discovered birth control pills in her daughter’s luggage when they returned home from a luxury break in the Gulf state. The mother complained to the British Embassy in London and Consular officials passed on the claim to their counterparts in the Dubai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Marcus was arrested when officers swooped on his hotel at 7.30pm on August 31 while he was still on holiday. British teenager Marcus Fakana who has been jailed in Dubai over a holiday romance was cleared of rape - but still faces a year in a hellhole prison because his accuser was two weeks shy of her 18th birthday The girl's mother reported Marcus to the authorities after finding birth control pills in her daughter's luggage Marcus Fakana says he enjoyed a holiday romance with the 17-year-old girl at the Hilton Dubai Palm Jumeirah (pictured) He told officers he’d had consensual sex with the girl on three occasions. His version of events was backed up when officers viewed the CCTV footage of the pair
DUBAI Rape Prison British Teenager Holiday Romance Age Of Consent
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