Bakery worker charged with molesting boy, 12, buying birthday cake for father in Dubai

Dubai: A bakery worker has appeared in court on charges of molesting and groping the private parts of a 12-year-old student who was purchasing a birthday cake for his father.

The 40-year-old Indian worker, F.A., was said to have taken advantage of the fact that the Indian boy walked in alone to the bakery shop to purchase a cake before he sexually molested him.

“I did not molest him,” argued F.A. when he entered a not guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.

According to the charge sheet, F.A. held the boy’s hand and touched him indecently and groped his private parts.

The alleged victim testified that the incident happened when he went to buy a birthday cake for his father on August 31 in Karama.

“I walked into the bakery but nobody was present at the counter or behind the fridge. I called someone from the kitchen and out came the defendant. I told him that I wanted a middle-sized cake for my father’s birthday.

“When he offered me to taste some sweets, I refused. Then he walked from behind the fridge and asked me to come close to him … then suddenly he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. I couldn’t free myself … while he groped different parts of my body. When he put his hand on my genitals, I pushed him away and rushed out of the bakery,” the boy claimed to prosecutors.

Prosecution records said the boy told his mother, who immediately reported the matter to her husband.

The boy claimed that he was astonished and confused when the bakery worker touched him indecently.

“I was surprised with his behaviour. Nobody spotted the defendant touching me because we were standing in a covered-up place,” said the boy.

A Yemeni policeman testified: “The defendant was not in the bakery when I went to question him. His brother was present and promised to bring him in for questioning. The suspect alleged to me that he was joking with the boy when the incident happened.”

A ruling will be heard on November 18.