Man on trial for molesting 9-yr-old in lift

Around 7pm we received a report about a sexual harassment incident in the Marina area. We went to the tower and we talked to the girl’s mother.” A police corporal

dubai — A 39-year-old man faced trial on Tuesday, accused of molesting a girl, nine, while alone with her in the lift. The Iranian businessman allegedly took advantage of the girl’s innocence and fooled her he would train her on horse riding before he molested her on February 18. But he pleaded not guilty in the Court of First Instance.

The girl, a Syrian, said she was playing with her friends and then wanted to go home in the 90th floor. “I pressed on 90 but the accused pressed on 60. He said he did not want to leave but to stay and go with me. He asked me if I know horse riding. He said he would train me”.

The girl recounted during public prosecution investigation how the defendant told her to grab the metallic part fixed inside the lift and touched her. She held her breath out of fear and ran out the moment she reached her floor and revealed the incident to her mother.

“Around 7pm we received a report about a sexual harassment incident in the Marina area. We went to the tower and we talked to the girl’s mother,” a police corporal said. The CID was alerted immediately and the defendant was arrested by the time the corporal reached Al Barsha police station.

The 41-year-old mother said her daughter’s heart was beating fast while she told her about the accused. “She wanted her brother to take the lift with her because a man was waiting for her there”.

The defendant admitted to the investigators he did as the girl had said. But he claimed he was showing her how to do the pressure workout. He said he stepped back to give her space to do it herself. He said once she was done she touched his body accidentally.

In a still photo taken from the surveillance camera, the accused appears to be standing with the girl near the tower lifts and talking to her.—