Dubai: A guardsman was jailed for five years yesterday after a court convicted him of molesting a girl in a coma. The man was found guilty of sleeping beside the girl on her hospital bed.
The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 34-year-old Emirati guardsman five years in prison after Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir pronounced him guilty of sexually molesting and harassing the comatose Emirati girl.
Prosecutors had charged 34-year-old M.I. of molesting the girl while she was unconscious on a government hospital bed.
The defendant pleaded not guilty when he earlier appeared in court.
According to the arraignment sheet, prosecutors charged M.I. with kissing and hugging the girl.
Yesterday's judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
A 22-year-old Filipina nurse testified that M.I. walked into the girl's room and ordered her to leave.
"He locked the door from [the] inside immediately after I walked out… when I looked from the small window, I spotted him kissing her. The next day I saw him sleeping beside her…," the Filipina nurse claimed in her statement.
Prosecution records showed that the girl's 71-year-old father proceeded to report the matter to the police.
The defendant was quoted admitting that he had held the girl's hand while she was in a coma.
