Dubai: A driver was sentenced to three months in jail for groping a drunk saleswoman, who slept in the back seat of his taxi while driving her home at 4.30am.
The 22-year-old Lebanese saleswoman was with her friend when they flagged down the 30-year-old Pakistani taxi driver, S.A., at Dubai Downtown in April.
The taxi driver dropped the friend first and, when the saleswoman slept in the back seat, he took advantage of her and molested her.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted S.A. of molestation despite his having entered a not guilty plea.
Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi said the accused will be deported after serving his imprisonment.
The Lebanese woman said the incident happened when S.A. drove to her house in Jumeirah Lakes Towers.
“I was under the influence of liquor… I was very sleepy so I napped in the back seat. I woke up suddenly when the driver was trying to put a pillow behind my head. When I screamed at him, he forced me to stay down so that nobody noticed us,” she told prosecutors.
Records said the defendant parked his taxi on the right side of the road before he groped the woman.
“I did not molest her. She was very drunk and fell asleep. I just woke her up once I reached her address,” the driver contended in court.
The saleswoman testified that the incident happened shortly after she and her friend left a nightclub where they had been drinking.
“I stretched out on the back seat and fell asleep. I woke up… the driver was sitting over me while the doors were closed. I yelled at him but he pinned me down so that nobody could see me in the car. When a car stopped beside the taxi, he kept me down to avoid being seen. When I continued yelling, he returned to his seat and drove to the destination. He drove off and I did not even pay the tariff,” she claimed.
A police corporal said the saleswoman was drunk and crying when she called the police. She complained that the driver molested her, said the corporal.
Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
