Man accused of human trafficking allegedly assaulted ex-girlfriend who had posted bail for him
Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
Nov 14, 202
5
A man who claimed trial to a human trafficking charge was out on bail and was awaiting its verdict when he allegedly assaulted his bailor, who is his former girlfriend.
Italian citizen Achraf Arjaouy, 31, had his bail revoked on Nov 14. He is now remanded and the verdict for his trial will be out on Jan 16, 2026.
He had earlier been granted bail of $100,000 following his trial, on the condition that he does not reoffend.
Achraf is accused of committing human trafficking involving another woman, identified in court documents as V1, who cannot be named due to a gag order.
He had allegedly promised to marry V1, a Singaporean who was then between 30 and 31 years old, shortly after they met on dating app Tinder.
The couple then flew to Dubai in April 2021. While they were there, he allegedly convinced her to be a sex worker.
She later contracted a sexually transmitted disease and flew back to Singapore in November that year.
Achraf allegedly assaulted his bailor on Oct 15, 2025. It was the fourth time he had used violence towards the woman, the prosecution said in a court hearing on Nov 14 involving his bail-related matters.
After one of those incidents in September 2024, she was taken to hospital for a medical examination and diagnosed with a bruised face and neck, added the prosecution.
Following another incident that month, she told a doctor that she had been slapped, punched and choked, the court heard.
Deputy public prosecutors David Khoo, Tay Jia En and Ariel Tan also told the court that Achraf did not hesitate to inflict violence on the woman when she refused to give him money.
The DPPs said that Achraf had relied on her financially while he was in Singapore on a special pass and knew where she lived.
Stressing that there was a need to protect the bailor's safety, they urged the court to revoke his bail as he "will very likely continue to pose a danger" to her.
In earlier proceedings, the court heard that Achraf arrived in Singapore in March 2021 and got matched with V1 on Tinder the following month.
"During a whirlwind courtship, the accused told the victim that he wanted to marry her in Qatar... The victim was overjoyed and agreed to travel with the accused to Dubai en route to Qatar," the prosecution told the court during the trial.
However, Achraf never intended to take V1 to Qatar and did not want to marry her, said the DPPs.
Court documents stated that Achraf had also lied to V1 that he came from a wealthy Qatari family and was a pilot for Qatar Airways.
According to the prosecution, he had told V1 that their relationship would end if she refused to travel with him to Dubai.
The DDPs said the victim agreed to leave her life in Singapore behind, and the pair travelled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on April 21, 2021.
The prosecutors told the court that while there, Achraf further deceived V1 by claiming that she needed to show US$10,000 (S$13,000) as "proof of funds" to enter Qatar.
Although this was not true, his claim "threw the victim's dreams into flux because she did not have this money". "For his part, the accused knew that the victim did not have access to funds of this magnitude," the prosecution said.
"The accused capitalised on the victim's confusion by embarking on a campaign of physical and psychological torture. He committed acts of violence, subjected the victim to humiliating and invasive sexual acts, degraded her, and threatened to mutilate her."
The DPPs also said Achraf told V1 that she should engage in prostitution to raise the US$10,000.
The court heard that she gave in after he pestered her.
The prosecutors added: "The accused arranged for the victim to engage in prostitution. He took intimate photographs of her, created profiles for her on escort websites in Dubai, solicited customers for her, and booked a hotel for her to provide sexual services."
They also told the court that Achraf collected V1's earnings every day.
Court documents stated that V1 stopped engaging in prostitution in September 2021 and flew back to Singapore two months later.
The prosecution added that her mother had alerted the police shortly after V1 left for Dubai.
Achraf was charged in court in 2024.
