Dubai: A football coach has been accused of coercing a 15-year-old boy to undress in his car and sexually abusing him under threat to publish his nude photos on social media.

The 35-year-old Indian coach, F.M., was said to have become acquainted with the Indian boy through Facebook and was training him and other boys in football in private sessions since June 2015.

In October, the coach used his car to drive his team of players to their homes and the 15-year-old boy was the last to be dropped off. Instead of driving the boy home, F.M. parked his vehicle behind a school, according to records, and coerced the boy to remove his clothes and molested him.

Although the boy attempted to refuse to comply with the coach’s wishes, F.M. blackmailed the teenager and threatened to upload his naked photos on Facebook if he did not allow him to fulfil his indecent desires.

Prosecutors accused F.M. of molestation, cyberblackmail, inciting a minor to interact with him sexually, storing on his device child pornographic material and displaying the same to others.

The suspect entered an innocent plea and refuted his accusations when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.

“I did not molest him or show him any pornographic materials. I did not do that,” F.M. told the court.

“What about the device that was seized in your possession?” presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi asked him.

“The smartphone is not mine … it belongs to a friend, who had left it with me before he travelled,” replied the suspect.

According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the coach coerced the boy to perform indecent acts and then molested him. He also abused the telecommunication system and blackmailed the boy. He was also accused of showing the boy pornographic films in an attempt to encourage him to have sex with him.

The defendant countered all his accusations and requested presiding judge Al Shamsi to adjourn the case until he hires a lawyer to defend him when the court reconvenes on May 8.

The boy claimed to prosecutors that t he met the coach on Facebook and had been training with him for four months before the incident happened.

“He used to drive me and my friends to and from the pitch in his car. On that particular day, he dropped everybody off and instead of driving to my house, he parked behind a school. I refused to remove my clothes when he asked me to do so … then he moved to the back seat and claimed that he possessed naked photos of mine that he threatened to post on Facebook if I did not please him. I could not run away because I was too scared and he had locked the doors. When he finished, he threatened to post the photos on social media if I told anybody about what he had done to me,” the boy testified to prosecutors.

A police lieutenant claimed to prosecutors that following F.M.’s arrest, police found child pornographic material on his smartphone and photos of the players he used to coach.