Serial groper brought to book
Special team of Dubai Police track down suspect by monitoring CCTV footage
■ Legal and Court Correspondent
Aspecial team from Dubai Police’s Deer Balak (Take Care) security programme helped a receptionist in identifying a worker, who has been accused of groping her at Downtown Dubai.
The 20-year-old French receptionist was said to have left a coffee shop at 11pm and as she was walking back to her home — not far from the shop in May — a 22-year-old Pakistani worker, came from behind and groped her.
According to records, when the woman resisted and tried to foil the man’s advances, he tried to pull her towards a bushy spot but she managed to free herself and escape.
Shortly after reporting the matter to Dubai Police, a special team from the Deer Balak security programme was formed and assisted the girl in searching for the assailant to have him apprehended.
Field team investigators visited the spot where the Frenchwoman had been reportedly targeted and, after checking the surveillance cameras in the surroundings, the Deer Balak team extracted photos of the culprit walking behind the woman.
Having received up to six groping complaints from different women in the same vicinity, the special team identified the 22-year-old suspect, who was apprehended near a supermarket a week after the incident.
After identifying him at the police line up three times, the worker was referred to the Public Prosecution.
Prosecutors 22-year-old of Frenchwoman.
Prosecutors said the suspect exploited the fact that the receptionist was walking alone on the pavement at night to take her by surprise.
The suspect pleaded guilty when he showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday.
The woman told prosecutors that she was heading to her house when the incident happened at 11pm at Downtown Dubai area. “I heard strange footsteps behind me … by the time when I turned around to see, the suspect grabbed me from my neck and then groped my top. He tried to muzzle me in one hand and used the other to grope me. He told me to remain silent and tried to push me towards a bushy area … I pushed him away and resisted. Once I started shouting at him and crying for help, he ran away and disappeared. A group of bystanders walked me to my building and they tried to help me find him,” she testified to prosecutors. accused groping
Officer’s testimony
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A police officer testified to prosecutors that following the woman’s complaint a special police team from the Deer Balak carried out the investigations and apprehended the suspect. “We obtained a photos of the suspect’s face from the CCTV cameras. A number of similar molestation complaints had been reported in the vicinity. We studied the culprit’s criminal behaviour and it was discovered that he had preyed on victims who were walking alone to their homes on weekend nights. Following his arrest near a supermarket, the 22-year-old admitted during questioning that he had groped six to seven women.”