Dubai: A holidaymaker claimed in court on Tuesday that he patted a policewoman’s shoulder to ask her for directions to Dubai Mall and didn’t have any intention of molesting her.
Prosecutors charged the 49-year-old Kazakh tourist, K.B., with molesting the policewoman by touching her arm and assaulting two policemen at Burj Khalifa Metro station in December.
“That is not true. I did not molest her. I only patted her on her shoulder as I wanted to ask her for directions to Dubai Mall … I had no criminal intention at all,” argued the defendant when he entered an innocent plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance.
“Did you assault the two policemen?” presiding judge Mohammad Jamal asked the suspect in courtroom three.
“No, I did not assault them,” K.B. said.
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the Kazakh molested the policewoman and assaulted two other policemen when they tried to arrest him.
The 21-year-old policewoman testified to prosecutors that the defendant touched her arm while she was guiding the crowds of commuters at the Metro station.
“Someone touched my shoulder from the back. When I turned back, the suspect asked me for directions to the mall. I guided him and then asked him why he had touched me. He answered in his own language but I didn’t understand what he said … he touched my hand again. I pulled my hand away quickly and I asked him to escort me to the police office. He refused. My two colleagues [two policemen] came and presented their police IDs. He refused to go with them to the police office and, when they tried to take him, he assaulted them. When we reached the police office, my partners prevented him from touching me,” claimed the policewoman.
The two policemen testified that the defendant pushed them and did not want to be taken to the police office at Dubai Mall.
The suspect was cited telling prosecutors that he patted the policewoman’s shoulder to ask her for directions to the mall as he is a tourist.
A ruling will be heard on May 17.
