Dubai: A lawyer has accused a businessman of cheating his female client by forging their marriage contract and convincing her that she was his wife before sleeping with her.

Records said the 32-year-old Emirati businessman forged the marriage contract with the 30-year-old Uzbek female saleswoman before he slept with her.

`The businessman, H.K., has cheated my client, S.A., and deceivingly convinced her that she became his lawful wife before having an ordinary husband-wife relationship. The suspect allegedly tampered his original marriage contract [to another woman] by wiping out his real wife`s name off the contract and replacing it with S.A.`s name. My client is innocent of having consensual sex with H.K. who should have been charged with having sex against S.A`s will,` lawyer Yusri Sa`ad told the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday.

The Public Prosecution charged the businessman with forging the marriage contract. S.A. was charged with using the marriage contract by presenting it to a police lieutenant. The two were charged with having consensual sex.

The duo pleaded not guilty when they first appeared in court.

During yesterday`s hearing, Sa`ad defended before Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout: `The saleswoman has been tricked. Ultimately, she wouldn`t have slept with him had she known that he reportedly forged their marriage contract. A law enforcement officer testified during questioning that my client admitted that she went with H.K. to Dubai Courts where she presented her parents` written consent and personal documents before she signed the marriage contract. When the businessman handed her the marriage contract, she was unaware it was forged.`

Public Prosecution records quoted an Emirati police lieutenant testifying: `H.K. reported to the police that S.A. stole his three wristwatches and refused to allow him into the apartment where they both lived. I walked into the flat along with H.K. She took out the watches from a pillow where she hid them. When I asked about the relationship between them, S.A. presented the marriage contract.`

The forensic laboratory`s report confirmed the marriage contract was tampered with.