Dubai's 'Safe' Image Shattered by Personal Attack, Author Claims

A woman who once believed Dubai to be the safest place in the world has recounted a personal experience of sexual assault and the subsequent difficulties in seeking help, challenging the city's reputation for low crime rates. The author, Georgia Lewis, stated that while many are drawn to Dubai's glamorous lifestyle, the night she was attacked revealed a darker side.

Lewis described herself as an "early adopter" of the mindset that Dubai was exceptionally safe. However, she expressed anger in retrospect for having assumed that low rates of petty crime equated to an absence of serious crime. "I thought Dubai was the safest place in the world... I can't believe I was so foolish," she wrote.

The attack, which Lewis experienced, underscores a perceived discrepancy between Dubai's image and the reality of serious crime. "So many are lured by the glamorous lifestyle but the night I was attacked, and what happened when I tried to get help, prove its dark side," she stated. Lewis further noted that accurate statistics on sexual assault in the UAE are difficult to find, and she suspects that published figures may be artificially low based on her own experiences and those of her friends.

Lewis described the attack as occurring in a manner that reflected her mistaken belief that such events simply did not happen in the United Arab Emirates, a view she states is still widely held. "I was subjected to sexual assault by a stranger – an attack that reflected my mistaken belief that such things just didn’t happen in the UAE, a view that is widely held to this day," she wrote.

Following the incident, Lewis's friends and family urged her to return to Australia. However, she remained in Dubai for nearly five more years, having genuinely enjoyed her life there despite the attack.

The attack did prompt Lewis to become more cautious. She noted that she and her friends, many of whom lived in the same neighborhood, would take precautions such as walking home in groups.