Dubai: A waiter has been jailed for three months for getting drunk and kissing and groping a waitress after he followed her into a storeroom.
The Nepalese waiter, N.K., was drunk when he molested his countrywoman waitress in the storeroom behind the food court at Ibn Battuta Mall in June.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted N.K. of drinking and molestation.
The accused, who will be deported after serving his punishment, had pleaded innocent.
The accused walked into the storeroom, according to records, and pushed the waitress against the wall before kissing her against her will and groping her.
The Nepalese woman testified that she went to the storeroom to have her lunch when the incident happened.
“N.K. followed me to the storeroom although he is not permitted to be inside. When I asked him to go out, he closed the door and walked towards me. I realised that he was drunk when he stood beside me. He pushed me against the wall and kissed me forcibly. I couldn’t stop him as he pushed my hands away and kissed me. He groped me. The door cannot be opened from inside, so when I freed myself, I banged on the door from inside hoping someone outside would hear me. An Egyptian manager, who works in another food chain, opened the door and came in. Then the defendant stopped what he was doing … N.K. then begged me not to tell anybody what he had done,” she said.
The manager testified that he saw the doorknob being moved from outside and realised that someone was stuck in the storeroom.
“When I opened the door, the waitress seemed scared and was crying as she leant against a wall. I restrained the defendant and called the police,” the manager testified.
The defendant has already appealed the primary ruling and a hearing will be scheduled soon.
