Dubai: A finance manager lost his appeal after a court upheld his three-month suspended imprisonment for molesting an accountant in his office and sending her pornographic images on WhatsApp.
The Jordanian manager groped his Filipina co-worker at their workplace and forwarded her several pornographic pictures to her WhatsApp account in July and August last year.
The 22-year-old woman tried to dodge her supervisor’s attempts to touch her.
She yelled at him when he forwarded her indecent images on WhatsApp and reported the matter to the company director.
In April, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of molesting the Filipina and forwarding her images of pornographic nature. He was handed a three-month suspended jail term and ordered to be deported
The accused appealed his primary ruling before the Appeal Court where he pleaded not guilty.
Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif dismissed the defendant’s appeal.
The accountant testified that she started working in the company in May 2016 and the incident happened between July and August of the same year.
“The first time, he grabbed me by the hand, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it. He then grabbed my hand repeatedly and later touched my thighs. I tried to avoid him and dodged his repeated attempts to grope me. Later, he started sending me pornographic pictures on WhatsApp … I told the director and reported the matter to the police. In my complaint, I informed them that he had groped me. Whenever he molested me, I was too scared to shout at him, or scold him at the workplace. I again reported him to the director once he forwarded me images and video of sexual nature,” the Filipina testified.
The manager’s mobile phone was examined and it was found that he had forwarded obscene images to the woman’s phone on WhatsApp.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.
