Man stands trial for groping teen

He ran and took the lift. He was shocked as that man followed him inside the lift and groped him several times.”

Police officer

dubai — A man was charged at a Dubai court on Thursday after he allegedly molested a 13-yearold Arab boy outside his parents’ building and in the lift.

According to public prosecution records, the incident took place when the 30-year-old Pakistani jobless man spotted the teenager alone outside a building in the International City on April 3, 2018. He groped the boy there and followed him to the elevator where he touched him again inappropriately. A case was registered at Al Rashidiya police station.

The accused denied the charge at the Court of First Instance.

Prosecutors referred him to trial and recommended he receives the strictest legal penalty possible while he remains in detention.

A police sergeant said they apprehended the suspect at 4pm on January 20 in the Moroccan cluster of the International City in connection with a report about molestation of a minor. “We received a report that a boy was molested at 3.30pm on April 3, last year. We moved to the scene in the Emirati cluster and talked to the complainant.

“We heard how he was approached by the defendant as he sat on the stairs down his building. The boy felt scared when the Pakistani man sat next to him. He ran and took the lift. He was shocked as that man followed him inside the lift and groped him several times. The victim pushed the man away and ran out once he reached his floor. He told his parents right away,” the officer told the prosecutor, adding that the defendant’s involvement in the case was proven based on a reliable source’s tip and the victim’s descriptions of the suspect.

“The accused claimed he had gone to International City to get a haircut. He wandered around for some time before he spotted the boy sitting alone on the stairs outside a building. He confessed he pretended he was friendly and then molested the boy.”

The sergeant quoted the defendant as saying that he told the boy he wanted to be his friend during the incident. “The accused recounted that he found a woman screaming at him when he exited the building. He was apologising to her when a man grabbed him. But he was let to leave and he ran away,” the sergeant told the investigator.

In the charge sheet, the prosecutor noted that the defendant’s running away from the scene is an indication that he had an ill intention towards the boy.

The defendant will be sentenced on March 11.