Tori Towey, a 28-year-old from woman Roscommon, has described her recent ordeal in Dubai as “harrowing” and “so scary” after she was charged with attempting suicide and detained at a police station.
Towey, a flight attendant, shared that she feared months of incarceration at Al Barsha police station, with authorities providing no information about her situation. Her case was raised in the Dáil on Tuesday, where it was revealed she was a victim of domestic violence and faced charges of attempting suicide and alcohol abuse following an attack.
I don’t think the police go and call your family for you and tell them, so it would have just looked like I just completely disappeared off the face of the earth
Intervention by the Irish government resulted in lifting her travel ban and dropping all charges this week.
She met women of various nationalities, including a Filipina who had been detained for ten years. Towey believes she was released because she had managed to call her mother, Caroline before her phone was confiscated.
Tori Towey has opened up on the horrific treatment she faced while detained in Dubai.
“I was very anxious and worried, but one woman calmed me down, even though she had been there for ten years,” Towey said. She explained that she was detained from around 4 am to 11 am and feared that without her call to her mother, she would have vanished without a trace.
Tori and her mum Caroline were at Dublin Airport after the Roscommon woman came home. Credit: Collins Photos.
Tori said one Dubai cop taunted her despite visible signs of severe bruising and other terrible injuries.
During a live discussion on social media site X, Towey described waking up surrounded by police and paramedics. “They gave me oxygen, handed me a green dress to put on, and took me to the station,” she recounted.
“I blew into a device, gave my fingerprint, and called my mother hysterical, not knowing why I was there.”
I got out, but I keep thinking about the other girls that are stuck in there for months and months and months. I’ve never been able to stop thinking about that
Tori Towey
Towey sent a message to a friend before her phone was taken. She was then strip-searched, and her jewellery was removed. “They struggled with my bellybutton piercing, hurting me, and didn’t explain anything,” she said.
Tori Towey celebrated her homecoming to Ireland by having cake at a family party in Roscommon.
Tori Towey arrived at Dublin Airport yesterday afternoon from DubaiCredit: Collins Photos.
She described the detention area as a tiny corridor with mattresses on the floor, crowded with women who had been there for months without explanation. “Some girls were there for seven months for very minor things, never going outside, not knowing what was happening to them,” Towey said, expressing deep concern for those still detained.
“I keep thinking about those girls stuck there for months. I’ve thought about it a lot since leaving,” she said. “I feel so sorry for them, fearing they might spend their whole lives there without ever getting out.”
