Dubai: An employee lost his appeal and will be jailed for three months for secretly filming a woman shopper, who wore a short skirt at a mall.

The 35-year-old Egyptian employee put his phone on camera mode and placed it between the woman’s legs in December 2016.

When the Swedish woman felt something had touched her legs, she instantly turned around and saw the flash of the employee’s mobile switched on.

The woman asked the employee what he was doing, before he replied that he was looking for something and left quickly.

The woman alerted the mall’s security and when they inspected the surveillance cameras, the Egyptian was also seen filming another woman wearing a miniskirt.

In March, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 35-year-old defendant to three months in jail followed by deportation.

The accused appealed his primary judgement before the Appeal Court where he pleaded not guilty and denied filming the woman.

Refuting the accusations of molesting and breaching the modesty of the Swedish woman, the defendant argued: “I did not do that … I just bent over to pick something I had dropped.”

Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm refuted the defendant’s appeal and upheld his three-month jail term.

The deportation order was also confirmed.

The Swedish woman said the incident happened while she was shopping at a home furnishing retail store.

“Suddenly, I felt something touching my legs from behind. I turned back and saw the suspect behind me … his mobile phone was in his hand and it was on filming mode. He told me that he was searching for something and then walked away quickly. I rushed to the security to review the surveillance cameras … he was shown filming me from under the skirt. I called the police. He was also seen filming another woman wearing a miniskirt,” the woman testified.

The Egyptian was quoted as admitting to prosecutors that he saw a European woman in a miniskirt so he walked close to her and filmed her. Later, he retracted his confession in court.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 26 days.