Dubai: A manager has been accused of sexually abusing a house cleaner whom he had hired to clean his flat.
The 51-year-old Indian manager had called up a housecleaning company that provides cleaners on an hourly basis and hired a cleaner for three hours in July. A 24-year-old Filipina cleaner was sent over to the manager’s flat in Dubai Investment Park, according to records, and she started cleaning the washroom first.
Shortly after that, the manager asked the cleaner to stop cleaning and to sit beside him but she refused.
Records said when the Indian manager told the cleaner that he had hired her to work for an hour and to offer him company for two hours, the Filipina rushed to the washroom and locked herself inside.
Then she called up her work supervisor and told her about the incident. The supervisor advised her to leave the flat instantly.
When the cleaner came out of the washroom to leave the flat, the manager sexually abused her and gave her Dh50 to keep silent.
After leaving the flat, the cleaner reported the matter to the police.
The Indian manager was apprehended shortly after that.
Prosecutors accused the suspect of molesting the cleaner.
The 51-year-old suspect, who is in custody, pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.
The Filipina cleaner told prosecutors that her supervisor sent her to the suspect’s flat for cleaning it for three hours.
“I went to the flat and started cleaning the washroom first … then the suspect asked me to stop working and sit beside him. When I told him that I had been hired to clean the apartment, he said that he had hired me to clean the apartment for an hour and spend two hours with him. I felt scared and locked myself in the washroom, and informed my supervisor about the incident … she instructed me to leave the flat instantly. When I was leaving the flat, the suspect groped me. I cried and felt scared. He gave me Dh50 … then I left the flat and waited for my supervisor at the building’s reception. Once she came, we alerted the police about the incident,” she told prosecutors.
The supervisor told prosecutors that the cleaner was crying over the phone when she spoke to her.
A policeman testified to prosecutors that the suspect was drunk when they apprehended him.
The court will hear the Filipina’s statement when it reconvenes on October 19.
