X-ray operator in Dubai accused of groping and kissing patient

Dubai: An X-ray operator has been charged with molesting a female patient.

Prosecutors accused the 56-year-old Sudanese X-ray operator of abusing the fact that the 19-year-old Emirati woman was alone in the radiology section where he reportedly groped her private parts and kissed her on the cheeks and lips while X-raying her.

The suspect, T.M., denied the charges when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance.

The woman testified that the alleged incident happened in a Dubai-based hospital where she was being treated for a lung infection.

According to the chargesheet, prosecutors said the suspect took the woman on a wheelchair inside the radiology section, groped her breast and touched her waist during the X-ray. And when he showed her the X-ray results he also molested her. Then he kissed her when he helped her back on her wheelchair.

The 19-year-old girl claimed in her prosecution statement: "An Indian worker took me from my room to the radiology section. An Emirati employee said she was busy at that moment and the suspect volunteered to do the X-ray for me… I was on the wheelchair because I couldn't walk. I didn't mind being X-rayed by a man because a Filipino man did so when I was first admitted to the hospital, and so I deemed that as an ordinary procedure. Surprisingly, the suspect asked me to take off my shaila and abaya inside the X-ray room, but I refused. Then he said that it wouldn't be technically possible to do the X-ray… and so I complied."

She claimed that he molested her the first time before the X-ray machine when he touched her in "an inappropriate and indecent manner".

"He apologised and claimed that he was positioning the way I stood before the machine. He molested me for the second time inside the computer room when he showed me the results. I pushed him away after he hugged and kissed me on my head. He told me, ‘It's okay consider me like your father or brother.' The third time he molested me was when he helped me sit in my wheelchair," she claimed.

The court resumes the hearing on April 27.