Dubai: A manager at a five star hotel, who was accused of untying the straps of his workmate’s bra and molesting her, failed to win his acquittal on Wednesday.
The 40-year-old Egyptian manager, S.T., lost his legal battle before the Dubai Appeal Court that upheld his three-month imprisonment.
The court convicted the defendant of molesting his 28-year-old Emirati workmate by touching her shoulder and pulling the straps of her bra from the backside.
The woman claimed that when the defendant pulled the straps, she felt that her bra untied and went loose.
“He even breached my modesty when he asked why I wore a bra that buckles up from the back and not from the front. He put his hand on my shoulder and also pulled my bra wanting to remove it,” the Emirati woman claimed.
When the defendant appeared before the appellate court, he pleaded not guilty and denied the accusations.
The accused will be deported following the completion of his jail term, said Presiding judge Mustafa Al Shennawi in courtroom 20 on Wednesday.
Prosecution records said the defendant molested the woman and brought his body close to hers in an attempt to hug her. He also pulled her bra straps.
The woman testified that the incident happened while she was on duty at the five star hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road. “He stood to my left side and chatted with me for seconds. Suddenly he reached out his hand and put it on my shoulder. He touched my body… and tried to pull me towards him. I was about to lose my balance while standing when he surprisingly grabbed the elastic straps of my bra and he pulled it. I felt that it loosened. While he did so, he told me ‘why do you still wear such kind of bras that unbuckle from the back!’ I was horrified and shocked when he said that. I rushed away from that place, when he chased me and claimed that he was joking,” the woman claimed.
Records said the defendant asked his workmate to go to his office and he repeated the same question about her bra.
“I told him that was not his business or concern. I was very depressed and dissatisfied with his attitude… so I complained,” the woman claimed.
An Egyptian employee confirmed the woman’s statement and claimed that he spotted the defendant touching the woman from over her abaya.
Wednesday’s judgment remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.
