Dubai: A cook has been accused of groping a woman while waiting in a queue to withdraw money from an ATM machine.
The 25-year-old Indian cook was said to have walked into the queue and stood behind the Egyptian woman before he molested her at a shopping mall in May.
The woman reported the matter to the police instantly, according to records, after she spotted the cook standing with a group of his friends, looking at her and laughing.
The suspect pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Sunday.
The prosecutors said the suspect touched her inappropriately. “No, I did not,” the suspect told presiding judge Mohammad Jamal.
He asked the judge to adjourn the hearing until he reads the case file and presents his written defence.
The woman told the prosecutors that she was waiting her turn at the ATM when she felt someone touching her.
“Despite the fact that there was enough space for him to walk, the suspect came between me and the client who was behind me. I felt that he put his hand on me and groped me … then he continued walking to the other corner. I turned and spotted him standing with a group of men … obviously, they were talking about me. I saw them all laughing as he spoke to them while they looked at me. I left the queue and headed towards them directly … I asked the security guards at the mall to stop the suspect. The cook had intentionally groped me when he squeezed into the queue,” she claimed to prosecutors.
The suspect was quoted as telling prosecutors that he walked through the queue from behind the woman and his body touched hers.
Meanwhile surveillance cameras confirmed the woman’s claims that the suspect groped her.
The trial continues.
