Dubai An employee has been accused of sexually abusing a female cleaner when he groped her from behind at Abu Hail Metro station.
The 32-year-old Omani employee, M.B., was said to have hugged and groped the Nepalese cleaner from behind and pressed his body close to hers at the Metro station in March.
The defendant, who is in custody, entered a not guilty plea and denied his accusations when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.
“I did not touch her,” the suspect told presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi in court.
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said M.B. pressed his body very close to the woman’s from behind, groped her and behaved inappropriately.
Records said the Nepalese woman resisted the man and pushed him away before she ran out of the washroom where the alleged incident happened and called for help at 6.30am.
The woman testified to prosecutors that the incident happened when she spotted the defendant, who was in his official dress, while heading to the washroom.
“I finished cleaning and, while leaving the washroom, the defendant asked me to kiss him … I refused. An hour later, I went to the canteen and was getting my breakfast from the top of a high shelf, when the suspect approached me from behind. He groped me and pressed his body close to mine. I asked him to stop, but when he didn’t, I shouted. He continued what he was doing. Then I freed myself and rushed out of the canteen. I informed a security guard, who stood outside the Metro station, about what the suspect had done to me. I also informed the guard that the suspect had tried to put his hand inside my shirt, but he couldn’t because the buttons were fastened,” the woman claimed.
The Nepalese security guard confirmed the woman’s statement before prosecutors.
Meanwhile M.B. was cited admitting to prosecutors that he touched the woman’s shoulder and hand.
The suspect’s lawyer will present his defence when the court reconvenes on April 22.
