Italian allegedly pretended to be wealthy pilot, told Singaporean woman to travel to Dubai with him
A Singaporean woman was allegedly tricked into engaging in sex work in Dubai by an Italian man who pretended to be a wealthy pilot.
Achraf Arjaouy, 31, had allegedly collected her earnings, according to court proceedings reported on by Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
Source: Shin Min Daily News
Italian claimed to be from wealthy Qatari family
The woman, who cannot be named, was 30 to 31 years old at the time.
She got to know Achraf on Tinder in April 2021, then subsequently met him in person at a hotel in Singapore.
Prosecutors said they embarked on a “whirlwind courtship”, where he told her he was from a wealthy Qatari family.
The “romantic, charismatic and attentive” man also claimed to be a pilot for Qatar Airways and was interested in marriage.
This was not true, the prosecutors said.
Source: Facebook via Shin Min Daily News
Italian threatened to end relationship if Singaporean woman didn’t go to Dubai with him
Achraf soon allegedly told the woman to travel to Qatar with him, transiting through Dubai.
He threatened to end their relationship if she refused, prosecutors said.
The woman was “overjoyed” and agreed to travel with him.
The pair left for Dubai on 21 April 2021, on an Emirates flight.
Source: Christoph Schulz on Unsplash
Woman allegedly told to prove she had S$12K
But in Dubai, Achraf allegedly told the woman that she had to prove she had US$10,000 (S$12,800) before she could enter Qatar.
As she did not have the cash, she asked her mother to transfer the funds to her.
Her mother went to the police instead.
Meanwhile, Achraf allegedly embarked on “a campaign of physical and psychological torture” against the woman, including using violence on her, degrading her with “humiliating and invasive sexual acts” and threatening to mutilate her, prosecutors said.
Italian allegedly organised sex work for Singaporean woman in Dubai
In May 2021, Achraf allegedly told the woman to engage in sex work to raise money.
While initially revolted, she eventually relented as he repeatedly promised that they would get married in Qatar.
Achraf allegedly organised her sex work by taking photos of her, creating Internet profiles for her, finding customers and booking a hotel.
He also collected her earnings, but later left her to find her own customers. However, he continued collecting her earnings.
The woman stopped her sex work sometime in Sept 2021, after she contracted a sexually transmitted disease (STD)
She returned to Singapore in late November 2021, while Achraf was arrested in Singapore for an unrelated offence two years later, in November 2023.
Italian denies knowing what Singaporean woman did in Dubai
Achraf was charged with recruiting a person by deception for sexual exploitation, under the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act.
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to S$100,000 and up to six strokes of the cane.
Appearing in court on Friday (22 Aug), he denied the charge, claiming that he “really didn’t know what she was doing in Dubai”.
He had taken care of her when they were together in May 2021, doing so out of his “heart”, he said.
He also admitted to telling her that they could “maybe” get married one day, but he wanted to settle down in Qatar.
However, the woman was “very aggressive” and “didn’t care about the rules in Dubai”, he added, referring to Sharia law.
They subsequently did not see each other from May to September 2021, he alleged.
He claimed he ‘didn’t understand’ what she was saying
But the prosecution showed him a number of messages that the woman sent him in March and April 2022, where she alleged that he made her “sleep with people for money”.
She also said in another message:
You choose to abandon me when I was in Dubai. I was in deep s***, you just torture me. I will not forgive you. Whatever you did was a sin.
In response, Achraf said he “didn’t understand anything” that she was saying.
But as he wanted help from her to pay a law firm, he did not clarify her messages with her, claiming to the court:
Basically I just wanted to get help from her and I didn’t have any interest in what she was talking.
When the prosecution asked him what he did for money in Dubai, he said other women gave him money.
After he came to Singapore, he claimed that he had a sexual relationship with a housewife who had two children after meeting her on Tinder.
Also read: Korean man contracts STI on honeymoon, discovers wife slept with 600 clients as sex worker
Korean man contracts STI on honeymoon, discovers wife slept with 600 clients as sex worker
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News and Christoph Schulz on Unsplash.
