Man jailed for trying to film up woman’s skirt at supermarket

DUBAI // A British expatriate will spend three months in jail after prosecutors won their appeal against his acquittal on a molestation charge.

Dubai Court of Appeal overturned the 57- year- old man’s acquittal and he will be deported after serving his time in jail for filming up a woman’s skirt in a supermarket.

The victim, whose nationality and age were not revealed, was at the Plus Point Supermarket in Jumeirah Beach Residences on January 5 when the Briton tried to film up her skirt.

“He dropped a pack of cigarettes on the floor then bent down to pick them up and placed his phone between my legs,” the woman said.

She pulled the shirt of her British friend, who was in the queue behind her, and asked him to help her to restrain the man. The woman’s 29- year- old friend tried to pull the phone out of his hand to take a look at the video clip. The man then showed him the clip, which showed only the supermarket’s ceiling.

The woman then called police, who arrived and arrested the defendant.

At Dubai Criminal Court in April, he denied a charge of sexual assault and was found not guilty the following month. But prosecutors appealed, seeking a conviction. At the appeal court, his acquittal was overturned.