DUBAI, UAE — The father of jailed dive assistant Roxanne Hillier is threatening to sue the South African consulate in Dubai for failing to offer a full retraction of accusations his daughter was guilty of having sex with her boss, despite evidence to the contrary. "It doesn't matter how much this costs me," Freddie Hillier told Maktoob Business in a telephone interview. "If they want to drain my bank account, then that is what it will take." A court in the conservative UAE emirate of Sharjah jailed Roxanne for three months in May for sleeping with her boss following a police raid of the dive company premises where they were discovered together. Under UAE law adultery and pre-marital sex carry a jail sentence. In Sharjah unrelated men and women are not allowed to be alone together. Following Roxanne's conviction Ishwar Mahadeo, consul at the South African Consulate General in Dubai, told South African daily the Mercury that the evidence against her was "overwhelming" and that it included "medical tests that confirmed the pair had had sex". "The fact is that the sponsor had sexual intercourse with her that night," Mahadeo was quoted as saying. Tests proved the 22-year-old South African did not have sex with her boss, according to documents seen by Maktoob Business, but she was jailed anyway, while her 41-year-old Emirati employer was acquitted of all charges. Despite the evidence the consulate has refused to retract its earlier statement, only sending a four-lined letter apologising for any "inconvenience and harm" caused to Roxanne, Freddie said. The South African consulate in Dubai did not respond to Maktoob Business requests for comment. "They (the South African consulate) said Roxanne was guilty and that the evidence supported that. I can prove that is not the case. I will fight, I will clear Roxanne's name," he said. | | Scuba diving instructor Roxanne Hillier, 22, was convicted and jailed for allegedly having sex with her boss, the owner of a dive shop in the UAE emirate of Sharjah. "There was no retraction, this is not good enough," he added. "I do not accept this apology and have given the consulate until the end of September, or I will sue." Roxanne was freed in July several weeks before she was due to be released and deported after being pardoned by Sharjah's ruler amid mounting criticism of the sentence. Roxanne returned home to South Africa following her release to recover from her ordeal. by Peter Harrison |
