26-yr-old man jailed for groping elderly woman

dubai — A 26-year-old man has been sentenced to three months in jail for sexually harassing an elderly woman as she was entering her flat.

The Court of First Instance earlier heard the Pakistani worker took the 67-year-old woman, an Indian, by surprise when he grabbed her from behind and stood very close to touch her with his body.

The accused denied the woman’s accusations in the court, claiming he was at his workplace in Jebel Ali at the time of the alleged incident. However, the court convicted him and ordered his deportation. The woman reported the incident on May 8.

“I was walking to my flat. It was around 7.15pm. There was a man who passed by me towards the lift. However, as I was opening the door I was taken aback when the man grabbed me from behind,” said the Indian housewife.

Her scream made her dog bark loudly from inside and that made the defendant so scared that he ran fast to take the stairs.

The woman said she was not sure whether the man’s plan was to rob or sexually harass her.

The building security guard identified the accused three times among other suspects at the Bur Dubai police station.

“I had come across the accused at the entrance and as he was not a resident there, I asked him what he was doing in the building. He said he came to meet a Pakistani man. I told him to go to the second floor,” the Indian security guard told the prosecutor.

“Shortly later, I got a call from the complainant telling me that a stranger sexually harassed her. I checked the CCTV footage and saw it was the same man I spoke to earlier.”

Investigators found the defendant’s DNA traces on the woman’s shirt. The worker was then placed in detention. mary@khaleejtimes.com