mary@khaleejtimes.com Filed on November 26, 2019 | Last updated on November 27, 2019 at 06.15 am

The teenager told the prosecutor that he was also filmed during the assault.

Five men accused of gang-raping a 16-year-old boy at a Dubai villa were cleared of charges at the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.

Prosecutors claimed that the five defendants - Emiratis aged between 19 and 25 - lured the boy, also an Emirati, into a car and then took him to a villa where they sexually assaulted him on April 18 this year.

The ruling text with details on their acquittal was not immediately available.

During the public prosecution investigation, the complainant recounted how one of the defendants, a 20-year-old, befriended him on Snapchat at 6.15am and asked to meet up with him.

"He came with his friends and picked me up near my residence. They took me to a room in a villa where they took turns raping me. One of them threatened me with knives and said he would bring more people to sexually assault me. I was dropped back home at 8.30am."

The teenager told the prosecutor that he was also filmed during the assault.

"I knew about it only when a schoolmate told me that he saw the video. I felt so scared I did not tell anybody about what happened to me."

The boy and his parents, who learnt about the incident a few days later, filed a complaint at Al Qusais police station on April 23.

A police lieutenant said that on April 29, the main 19-year-old defendant, who filmed the assault, was brought to the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation. The other accomplices were arrested later.

"They confessed they assaulted the boy and that the 19-year-old accused was the mastermind of the crime," the officer said.

Three of the defendants had a criminal record related to sexual assault.

The crime scene was identified as a room annexed to a villa. According to a report from the General Directorate of Criminal Evidence and Forensics, the fingerprints and DNA traces of two defendants were picked up from the room.

The ruling remains subject to appeal.

mary@khaleejtimes.com