Dubai: A clerk has been accused of cursing a stewardess whom he had befriended and threatening her via WhatsApp that he would bring disrepute to her if she didn’t help him get a job at her workplace.

The Egyptian stewardess, who works for a national carrier, was said to have become friends with her 30-year-old countryman in November 2016 while he was employed with a telecom service provider.

The stewardess had visited a booth of the telecom company at a mall to buy a phone and, after chatting with the clerk while he was processing her transaction, they became friends.

The woman started hanging out with the clerk’s group of friends but the latter subsequently started making romantic overtures to her, records stated. Then when he proposed to her, she told him she was not ready to commit to a relationship since she had recently divorced and asked him to remain friends and see how their relationship would develop.

The clerk lost his job not long after and started pestering the stewardess to help him find a job in the national carrier where she was employed, records stated.

The stwardess later realised that the clerk had been following her around in his car and she also started receiving text messages from him trying to talk her into marrying him, but she refused.

The stewardess asked the clerk to stay away when she started feeling that she was being constantly disturbed and stalked by the 30-year-old, according to records. Subsequently, the latter sent her messages on WhatsApp threatening to shame her in front of her family and former husband and called her bad names as he attempted to pressure her to help him get hired at her workplace.

The stewardess reported the matter to the police, who apprehended the clerk shortly after that.

Prosecutors accused the suspect of cursing his countrywoman and threatening to bring shame and disrepute to her if she didn’t bow to his demands.

The suspect pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Sunday.

“I didn’t threaten her or curse her. She owes me Dh40,000 and she didn’t give me back my money. I just texted her on WhatsApp saying that she would not enjoy any nice day anymore because I was planning to report her to the police. I didn’t blackmail or threaten her,” the suspect argued before presiding judge Mohammad Jamal. He handed the court a number of screenshots of the abovementioned texts he claimed to have sent to the stewardess on her WhatsApp to corroborate his argument.

The stewardess testified to prosecutors that the suspect became uncontrollable shortly after she rejected his advances and marriage proposals and couldn’t help him get a job.

“He blackmailed me and threatened to bring me to disrepute before my family and ex-husband. When we were friends, he became close to my son… and had taken photos with him. He threatened to exploit those photos against me with my family and former husband,” she told prosecutors.

A ruling will be heard on March 13.