Dubai: A gardener has been jailed for three months for hugging a 10-year-old girl and kissing her as she was playing with friends in a park at the Greens community.
A Filipina babysitter took her sponsor’s 10-year-old daughter to play in the park along with the neighbours’ girls in August at the Greens community.
The babysitter was watching the girls playing at the park when she saw the 34-year-old Pakistani gardener hugging the girl and kissing on her cheeks and lips.
The girl’s father notified the police about the incident and the defendant was apprehended.
On Sunday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of hugging and kissing the girl against her will.
“I only pecked on her cheeks and didn’t kiss her on the lips,” the defendant argued in court.
When asked why he had kissed her, the accused replied: “I kissed her on the cheeks because she reminded me of my daughter."
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal said the defendant will be deported after completion of his jail term.
The Filipina babysitter said she had accompanied the girls to the park to play when the incident happened.
“Once I saw the accused coming close to the girl and kissed her, I rushed towards them and took the girls back to the house where the 10-year-old told me that the accused kissed her. I told the girl’s mother about what had happened. When the police arrived, we went to the park where the defendant was arrested,” the babysitter said.
The accused was quoted as admitting to prosecutors that he hugged the girl and kissed her cheeks and lips while she was playing in the park.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
