Dubai: Russia’s 30-year-old Karine Petrova, nervous and excited when her cab stopped in front of a hotel door on Al Mina Street in Jumeirah, here.
Inside, he thought, waiting for the possibility of a new career, a new life and a global opportunity.
Like many aspiring flight attendants, she was drawn to a career in aviation through the promise of traveling the world and a luxury lifestyle in Dubai. Not to mention, of course, a salary that would be 3 times higher than she earned as a saleswoman in Bur Dubai.
For Petrova, however, the dream homework interview turned out to be a nightmare that would leave her hanging to this day.
His job interview with a “Ryan Fernandez,” the guest general manager of High Fly Jets, would be an ordeal that ended in subterfuge, drugs and sexual assault.
The May 26 interview organized through Linda Gomez, head of recruitment for the U.S. personal jet rental company.
A WhatsApp message sent from California a few days earlier seemed encouraging. He said, “I never heard of this…” in the right position at the right time. “There’s something clever to come for you … Good things take position for the right people … don’t offer me dinner at Burj Al Arab when you get this job.”
The two had never met, but Petrova said they had been friendly during the recruitment process.
Attracted by the offer of loose accommodation on an excursion in Dubai’s exclusive Marina district and much higher than the one she earned at the time, Petrova approached the interview with cautious optimism.
The interview was to be conducted through the general manager of the airline with a stopover in the United States.
“He is [Ryan] the CEO’s right-hand man. He makes a decision to whom to rent and what to pay them. Two women have known him since his arrival. They were rented for a salary of Dh 18,000 each. you won’t get 18,000. Maybe you’ll get 15. But well, it’s a good idea,” Linda told her via text message.
At 7:15 p.m., Petrova entered the hotel lobby and greeted a bearded Asian man in his thirties who showed up with an American accessory such as Ryan Fernandes, the general of the High Fly Jets.
“He didn’t look anything like the head of an airline, let alone an American, but who am I to judge a rich, disgusting guy in his appearance?” Karine told Gulf News.
“He said the interview would take place in his room because the hotel’s meeting rooms were closed due to the pandemic. That’s a credible explanation. So I followed him, hoping to finish the interview and move home before 10 p.m. coronavirus movement restrictions.”
Once inside the hotel room, the boy asked Karine to sit on an armchair while he stood on the double bed.
“It started with non-unusual questions reading my resume on your laptop. Meanwhile, he smoked constantly, lit one cigarette after another,” says Karine.
“Ryan told me that his company was based in the United States but operated charter flights in 43 countries, in addition to the United Arab Emirates, and that his clients were more commonly personalities as CEOs, senior officials and foreign dignitaries. I was impressed.
Then he asked me why I was looking for this task and what motivated me. He listened to me carefully as I wrote my well-prepared answers. After a while, they left him out of his bed, came here and passed me his computer with his Open screen. He showed a website with a hundred questions. He said he had a vacancy for a team leader and he could rent me off if he answered all the questions satisfactorily. The team leader’s position paid at 22,000 dirhams.
“I think he had been blessed at random. The questions seemed easy. I took the computer and started writing the answers, looking at my watch every few minutes.
Petrova said she was halfway there when the guy said she ordered food online and asked her if she was looking for anything for her.
I think it was great of you, but I was in a hurry, so I refused. He smiled and poured a glass of water into a disposable bottle by his bed and introduced it to me, saying I deserve to have at least water. I was thirsty and swallowed it in two quick sips.
According to Petrova, that’s when the interview took a turn for the sinister maxim. Karine believes the water contained a rape drug. Colorless, odorless and tasteless medicine can have a chilling effect on victims. It acts quickly, causing drowsiness and hypnotic effects, within minutes.
Petrova told Gulf News how the words on the computer screen swim and become blurry before his eyes.
“I felt like I was going to pass out. I tried to get up, but my legs bent under me. When my vision began to fade, I saw Ryan’s face a few inches away. There was a sneaky glow in his eyes and a devilish smile around his own. lips as he kissed me and caressed me tightly. I tried to resist but I couldn’t move my limbs. I felt dizzy. As soon as I woke up, I worked helplessly while he lowered his pants and ordered me to perform obscene sexual acts. I begged him to leave me alone, but he hugged me tightly as I fell unconscious.
Petrova was not the only woman who reveled in a similar fate. Between September 2019 and May 2020, more than a dozen women in the United Arab Emirates were also drugged and sexually assaulted through the predator after being called to Dubai hotels under the pretext of job interviews, the researchers said.
Yana Litvin, 27, from Ukraine, Malike Hadad, 29, from Lebanon, Dylla Santos, 26, from Brazil, all shared their heartbreaking reports with Gulf News.
Each threatened disastrous consequences if he reported the matter to the police.
Petrova, who had stayed beyond the overnight restrictions, warned that she could be arrested and fined. Litvin and Hadad were informed that they may be charged with prostitution “because they voluntarily arrived at the hotel room.” Santos threatened with sextortion.
“He said he clicked on my nude images and posted them online,” Santos said. “I was frightened. I don’t know if he took a picture because I only have a slight memory of that night. I went into a trance almost without delay after drinking water,” recalls the 25-year-old who sexually assaulted on March 17. at some other hotel in Jumeirah.
The traumatized woman spent two weeks in psychiatric care. His emotional scars have healed.
“I still have nightmares and wake up in the middle of the night, sweating. I’m afraid of other people and I feel vulnerable even when I’m with friends,” she says.
Santos said there was a young European blonde sitting next to Ryan in her bed when she entered her hotel room. “He brought her in as his assistant and started the verbal exchange by taking a look at his airline while I sat in a chair in the farthest corner. He claimed that he had a master’s degree from Harvard University and had become the aviation industry with natural determination. He said he didn’t have to let me be intimidated by his position, as they had a friendly paint culture and his staff as a big family. Then he introduced me to a glass of water and introduced himself to play “Simon says” to “Calm my nerves” before the interview.
Simon Says is a popular icebreaker game involving 3 or more players in which a player plays the role of “Simon” and provides orders to other players, which should only be followed when preceded by the word “Simon says”.
“I felt fun, but I think that’s how they did it. At his mark, a blond boy [present at the play] started the game by asking me to stroke my head and pull my tongue. To my surprise, I discovered myself foolishly following the instructions. He said “Simon says jump” and I jumped. It’s like I’ve been hypnotized. Gradually, my brain has been emptying. I didn’t even realize when the blonde left and I alone with the guy who completely stripped naked now,” Santos said.
Litvin, who works in the hospitality industry, said the man touched her inappropriately several times and forced her to interact in sexual acts while sedated in her room at a hotel on Al Thanya Street, near Shaikh Zayed Street, on January nights. 19. and 20 this year.
“Linda had sent me a message saying that Mr. Ryan was going to fly to Dubai for only one night and that it was my most productive opportunity. I asked him to bring my Emirates ID and A4 papers for a written exam,” he recalls.
“He was courteous and polite when I arrived after midnight. In fact, he even apologized for the evening interview. He claimed to have had a flight the next morning. I believed him. Then he lit a cigarette and passed me a paper containing a hundred questions from the task interview.
“While handling the answers, he gave me a glass of water. I drank part of it. Soon I began to feel dizzy and disoriented. I was aware of what was around me, but I had no more of my body when the guy took off. his clothes and held me opposite to his bare chest.
“He whispered, “Don’t worry, all will be fine.” Everything seemed to slow down. I was terrified. I think it would happen if I had a knife under my pillow,” Litvin told Gulf News.
She said that a few days after the attack, the guy showed up in her office with four young Asian men and asked me to make a stopover at her hotel to complete the questionnaire. “I’m still blustering over the attack and I was surprised to see it, but now I’m also very, very scared because he had my resume and knew where he worked and lived,” said Yana, who lives alone and has stumbled upon the opportunity of homework on social media.
However, not all of the women they implemented fell into the predator trap. Lada Morozova, who lives in Abu Dhabi, said she was later called to a Dubai hotel because “it was the only time the doctor was free.”
She said: “I’m reluctant to drive to Dubai, but your secretary said they’d pay my fuel bill, so I agreed,” the Russian expat said.
“When I met him in the lobby, he asked me to walk him to his room. I refused and told him that he could contact me anywhere in the hotel in his room, but he stood firm. So I ran out of the hotel. and returned to Abu Dhabi without claiming the fuel money.
Maria Ivanova of Belarus, Ukrainian Ulyana Senchuk and Iraqi style Isha Ali also rejected the possibility of being interviewed in hotel rooms.
“I saw that the task was offered in popular classified ads in Dubai in early May. Candidates had to give WhatsApp their CV and five photos to a cell phone number in France, or email it to [email protected].
“Shortly after submitting the application, I won an email asking me to go to a hotel room for the interview. I answered.”
Research through Gulf News shows that the so-called airline does not exist. Sophisticated task assignments and detailed registration bureaucracy were also false. There probably isn’t a genuine Linda Gomez either. The elaborate setup is just a smokescreen to attract and catch unsuspecting young women.
The last fortnight, the sexual predator’s ten-month reign of terror nevertheless came to an end. He was arrested through the security government in Dubai after two of his victims called the Al Ameen government hotline and recounted their experiences.
Available 24 hours a day, the service allows full anonymity. After a thorough investigation, the Asian man, known as AA, was arrested. Gulf News is retaining your touch data for legal reasons.
“He’s in jail. We’ll register an opponent of it for sexual assault and identity theft,” a security official told Gulf News.
For his victims, the process of rebuilding their lives has just begun.
Petrova and Litvin have forged a bond ever since. “We are in contact with each other, we have faced the same despicable crime that we cannot tell our circle of family or friends so that we can each other,” Petrova said. Yana said the incident shattered her self-esteem and led to depression. “Karine is a wonderful support. Thanks to her, I am much better, but I still freeze when I see that a task or path is offered beyond Shaikh Zayed Road.
A leading psychologist working in the United Arab Emirates has stated that sex is an operation for sexual predators and that the pursuit of conquest may be the paramount aspect.
“Emotions like love and romance have no place in their freak show,” said Dr. Mohamed Yousaf, a psychiatrist specializing at the Aster Clinic in Dubai.
“Sexual predators don’t care what their victim is going through. Dominance is at the heart of his personality,” he said. “They are charismatic and competent in what they do. Many will have a conceptual circle of the lives of relatives surrounded by friends and family who would not even have the slightest concept of their disguised side.
“They know the laws, their consequences and distinguish good from evil. Sexual predators close their consciousness completely for the emotional or physical damage their action can cause. They just do what they need and when they get caught, they surely have no remorse.
“Talking bray is the first step in dealing with abuse and the beginning of the healing process.”
The Government of the United Arab Emirates encourages victims of abuse to file and record judicial cases against predators.
The Dubai police have a compromised hotline where the public can report these cases anonymously, confidentiality being the maximum facet of this initiative.
A flexible helpline from the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children also provides a quick response.
In July, there were reports of the arrest of a sexual predator who used a modus operandi to attack 56 women in Oman.
Announcing his arrest on Twitter on July 6, the country’s royal Oman police said the Muscat-based suspect had presented himself as the head of recruiting on an airline and had lured aviation enthusiasts with social media accounts.
The women who responded to the assigned tasks were invited to suggestive percentage photos, which were then used to blackmail them.
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