Man jailed for molesting sleeping tenant

dubai — A Pakistani man, accused of molesting a female tenant who had rented a bed space in his flat as she slept, was sentenced by the Court of First Instance to three months in jail to be followed by deportation.

The 30-year-old earlier denied kissing the woman’s neck and head, hugging and inappropriately touching her against her will while they were alone in the flat. He claimed she was maliciously accusing him over overdue rent.

He was renting out bed spaces and the complainant used to be one of his tenants.

The complainant, a 26-yearold Vietnamese, said she only knew the accused after she rented a bed space in his flat in the English cluster in the International City.

She said around 1.30am on August 9, she woke up when she felt someone kissing her on the head. “It was the accused who was leaning next to me. He kissed me and lay by my side hugging me,” the woman told the prosecutor.

She said she pushed him away. But his answer was that he loved her, hugging her again. She stood up when he touched her inappropriately but he hugged her once more. He then told her she had to go through the complete leasing period before she could vacate. “He told me he would keep all my belongings so I would not leave.”

Later in the afternoon on that day, she received voice messages from the defendant in which he allegedly called her bad names.

She reported the man at the Dragon Mart’s police centre. Around 1am, she went with the CID officers to the defendant’s flat where she picked up all her stuff. The accused, who was then sleeping, was arrested.

mary@khaleejtimes.com