
'Porta Potty party model' found in road with broken spine reveals what really happened
Ukrainian model found on roadside with broken spine speaks out
A wheelchair-bound Ukrainian model who was found seriously injured in Dubai after going missing for more than a week has spoken out for the first time.
Maria Kovalchuk was discovered on a roadside in March, amid fears she had been kidnapped into "sexual slavery". The 20-year-old, who suffered horrific injuries including a broken spine and limbs, had been in a coma after she was found close to death having "fallen from a height." Based on the testimony of some reported friends, there were fears that Maria had been a victim of a notorious Porta Potty party in Dubai - where rich men are reported to pay large sums to abuse and degrade attractive young women, including those with social media profiles.
Maria - who did not speak before leaving Dubai - has now revealed she is recovering from her ordeal in Norway, where her mother lives. The model, who has a prominent scar on her forehead after undergoing multiple surgeries, denied that citizens of the United Arab Emirates were behind her torture.
Instead, she pointed the finger at "rich Russian kids" who she alleges abused her after a party in a hotel. She claimed that her expensive medical treatment was paid for by the Dubai authorities. Her mother, Anna, said: "I don't know how much they paid - the sum was colossal, millions."
Russian news outlet Ostorozhno, Novosti, which spoke to Maria in Norway, claimed that "in exchange, she was asked not to say anything that would cast the Emirates' authorities in a negative light." Maria said: "I mostly use a wheelchair and crutches.
"I still have a leg fracture that's healing. I'm learning to walk with crutches again, but for now, the wheelchair is my main means of moving around." Recalling the incident, Maria said she had been in Dubai to get content for her job as a model when she overslept and missed her onward flight to Thailand.
According to the report, she met a young man - whom she had previously met at a karaoke bar - in the lobby of the Five Jumeirah Village hotel. The 19-year-old man in question lives with his father in Dubai. The report said: "She told him her air ticket had gone to waste and she had to check out of her hotel.
"[He] offered for her to stay in his room and claimed that his father could fly her to Thailand on a private jet." Maria then claimed that there was a party with the children of wealthy Russian and Ukrainian businessmen. She admitted she agreed to go with the man and his friends - hoping it would lead to a free flight to Thailand, but the atmosphere turned sour.
"They started teasing me, why I wasn't drinking," she told prominent Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak at Ostorozhno.Media. "Then some aggressive pushes like pushing in the shoulders began. After that, they started making fun of me like 'you belong to us, we will do whatever we want.'
"I tried to take it as a joke, because it was really weird. They started behaving inappropriately, smashing bottles on the floor. That is, the entire floor was strewn with broken glass, that is, it was impossible to walk there.
"Then they started intimidating me, smashing glass. After that, they took my personal belongings, which included my passport. And one of the girls….put on my things and just left in them, although before that I asked her not to do this, [and] to leave my things. That is, no one heard me, and she just left the hotel in my dress."
This woman is now out of contact. The men "hinted" they wanted sex, she said, adding: "I did not reciprocate, and this aggression was also heating them up."
The report claimed that "amid the violence, Maria tried to flee "but the young men "dragged her back into the room." It added: "When they stepped out onto the balcony, she escaped and hid at a nearby construction site." Then the men, who were "out of their minds" by this point, allegedly found her at the construction site and "beat her".
"They practically tore the skin off her scalp, then threw her off a ledge onto the road," said the account. "I ran away. Then, already on the street, when I was, I didn't see them anymore, but I knew they were coming," said Maria. "I ran to the nearest building, just scared, and ran in, hid there. It was just an unfinished building, open."
Maria doesn't remember the violence itself that led to her injuries, and the CCTV footage has since been erased, she said. "Three months have passed - the police waited until the cameras were automatically wiped [after this period]. So now there's no evidence," said Maria.
"Most likely, there was a blow to the head, I suppose. The next scene [that] I remember is me asking for help from a passing car, which had already stopped and called an ambulance and the police." She had fled wearing only a hotel robe.
She said: "I think that maybe I was thrown. Or it was a beating. One of two options, the injuries looked like either a beating or a fall." The men accused by Maria were both detained by police in Dubai but only for one day, said the report.
It added: "They now claim in their testimonies that they tried to find and help Maria and that she had asked to come to the party herself." There appear to be no charges against them. "The next day the case was closed, they were released. And the case was closed," said Maria's mother.
"The [Dubai] police investigation indicated that Maria said that she was running away from sexual violence and then went to protect her honour, her dignity, decided to commit suicide," she said. The mother claimed the statement was "falsified", adding that Maria wasn't trying to take her own life and saying she was not intoxicated. Medical tests also showed she had no alcohol in her blood, said her mother.

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They claimed she tried to climb over to the neighbours' balcony — but in fact, she was calling for help. They dragged her back inside.' Maria's horror unfolded when she missed a flight from Dubai to Thailand. While checking out of her hotel, she bumped into a wealthy Russian man she had met at a karaoke bar once before. Maria said she had believed he would fly her to Thailand on his father's private plane and had agreed to join him and his friends in his hotel room for a party. But the gathering suddenly turned violent, she says, after two Russian men, who were fuelled by drugs and alcohol, began to abuse her and tease her. 'There were some aggressive pushes, they started to joke: 'You belong to us. We'll do whatever we want'', Maria said. 'I tried to take it as a joke, because it was really weird. 'They started behaving inappropriately, smashing bottles on the floor. 'After that, they took my personal belongings, which included my passport.' The model added that the men had 'hinted' that they wanted to have sex with her, which she did not reciprocate. As things escalated, Maria tried to escape but said the men ultimately dragged her back into the hotel room. When they stepped out onto the balcony, she managed to flee and hid at a nearby construction site. The men then found her and 'beat her', she said. 'I ran away. Then, already on the street... I didn't see them anymore, but I knew they were coming,' said Maria. 'I ran to the nearest building, just scared, and ran in, hid there. It was just an unfinished building.' She had fled wearing only a hotel robe, after a female guest at the party allegedly slapped Maria and stole her dress. 'I think that maybe I was thrown. Or it was a beating. One of two options, the injuries looked like either a beating or a fall.' Maria, who has undergone multiple surgeries and remains in a wheelchair, has no recollection of the violence she endured that led to her injuries, but she says the CCTV footage that captured her ordeal has been erased. 'Three months have passed - the police waited until the cameras were automatically wiped [after this period]', she claimed. 'Now there is no evidence'. Maria has also claimed that police made it 'very difficult for her to leave Dubai, and accused cops of withholding her passport. The two men accused by Maria were briefly detained by police in Dubai - but only for one day. They reportedly told cops that they were only looking to 'help' Maria. There appear to be no charges against them due to 'lack of evidence'. Maria and her mother have also accused the police of falsifying her testimony. Maria had been missing for eight days after telling her friends she had been invited to a party at a hotel on March 9. On March 19, ten days after she disappeared, a battered and bloodied Maria was found dumped at a roadside in Dubai with her limbs and spine broken. Maria was rushed to hospital and underwent three surgeries to save her life, before later receiving a fourth procedure. The model has also denied that she was involved in a 'Porta Potty' party - as earlier reports had suggested - where sheikhs reportedly pay large sums to abuse and degrade attractive young women.