Dubai: A worker has been jailed for three months for pinching a 13-year-old schoolgirl in her cheeks and neck, then kissing her in a lift.
The Jordanian had just finished school and was returning home when a 28-year-old Bangladeshi worker entered the lift of the building where she stays in January.
The girl pressed the button for the 13th floor, while the worker pressed for the 12th floor of the building in Bur Dubai.
Instead of stepping out of the lift on the 12th floor, the worker pressed on the 15th floor.
Then he pinched the girl’s cheeks and neck and kissed her before she pushed him away and ran out when the elevator reached the 13th floor.
The girl told her mother what had happened and they called the police.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of molesting the minor girl.
The accused pleaded not guilty when he appeared in court.
“I didn’t touch her,” he contended before the presiding judge.
According to the primary ruling, the accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment.
The girl testified that the accused molested her in the lift shortly after she had returned from school.
“We met inside the lift. When the door opened on the 12th floor that he had pressed, the defendant told me sorry and pressed the button of the 15th floor. Once he moved his hand away from the push button board, the accused pinched my cheeks and neck gently. He also caressed my hair and kissed me. I pushed him away and he instantly looked down … I told my mother what had happened and she called my father. My father came home quickly and he called the police. Police came to the building shortly after that … after a while, we went to the police station and I identified the defendant in the line-up,” the girl said in her statement.
The defendant has already appealed the verdict and is seeking acquittal before the Appeal Court that is scheduled to convene the hearing soon.
