Dubai: A manager on trial for secretly filming women shoppers at a mall has denied the charges.
The 39-year-old French defendant was accused of using a professional camera hidden in a nylon bag to film or click pictures of women in short dresses.
The defendant denied the charges before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday. He claimed that he had no knowledge about the video clips and pictures found on his camera.
However, according to prosecution records, he admitted to hiding the camera in the the bag to film women shoppers and deleting some pictures later recovered from the camera.
Dubai Police’s forensic laboratory found 338 still photos and video recordings of women on the defendant’s camera.
His lawyer asked the court to have the camera re-examined by the forensic laboratory.
In the case dating back to May 2013, a security guard at the mall reported the defendant standing close to women in miniskirts and placing the bag near their legs without them noticing.
A Pakistani manager of an outlet in the mall testified to prosecutors that he witnessed the defendant approaching women in short dresses and placing his bag between their legs. He reported the matter to the nearest security guard. “He hid the camera in his pocket as soon as the guard approached him,” the manager said, “but handed it over when the guard asked him to.”
The trial continues.
