Cashier cleared of harassing girl

DUBAI: An accountant suspected to have concerned and molested a schoolgirl between candy shelves of a Dubai supermarket has been pronounced innocent after convincing judges he was framed.

The Indian man, 39, irst appeared at the Dubai Criminal Court on April 4 on suspicion he hugged and touched the Sudanese girl, 9, inappropriately, inside a supermarket in Deira at around 7:45pm on Feb.13.

He refuted the allegation and said he was framed. The court later sentenced him to six months in prison plus deportation. Prosecutors appealed demanding the Appeals Court to toughen his punishment.

He contended, “I seized her as she wanted to get out of the shop without paying for the items she had taken… if did not do such a thing… if only seized her by the right arm as she tried to lee without paying.”

He presented a defence memo to the jury. The Dubai Appeals Court has rejected the prosecutors’ counterargument, overturned the lower court’s ruling and pronounced the accountant innocent.

In prosecution records, the girl narrated that she went to the supermarket with a compatriot friend. They separated as each one looked for what to buy. He hugged her from behind and placed hands under her blouse.

She tried to free herself from his grip and failed. She screamed attracting the attention of her friend who then smacked him with a bag of candy. He returned to the counter. She paid for the candy and they walked out.

“He would often joke and play with me but what he did on that day was not joking,” she told prosecutors. Her friend gave a similar narration and said, “I saw my friend moving left and right in his grip and screaming.”

The girl’s mother said, “She came back from the supermarket with her friend. She was looking scared and upset. I asked her about it. She told me the supermarket employee did something shameful and bad to her.”

The girl explained details to the mother who then took her and her friend to the supermarket where they pointed to him. The mother contacted police. Al Barsha Police Station personnel detained him.