Dubai — A worker has been accused of pinching a 13-year-old schoolgirl on her cheeks and neck, and then kissing her in a lift, a court was told on Monday.
The 13-year-old Jordanian had just finished school and returned 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, according to records, pressed for the 12th floor of the building in Bur Dubai.
However, instead of getting off at the 12th floor, the worker instead pressed on the 15th floor.
Then he pinched the girl’s cheeks and neck and then kissed her before she pushed him away and ran when the elevator reached the 13th floor, said records.
The girl told her mother what had happened and they reported the matter to the police.
The 28-year-old worker was apprehended shortly after that and the girl identified him at the police line-up thrice.
Prosecutors charged the suspect of molesting the minor girl.
The Bangladeshi suspect pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Monday.
“I didn’t touch her,” the suspect contended before presiding judge Urfan Omar.
The 13-year-old testified to prosecutors that the suspect molested her in the lift shortly after she had returned home from school.
“We met inside the lift. When the door opened at the 12th floor that he had pressed, the suspect told me sorry and pressed the button of the 15th floor. Once he moved his hand away from the push button board, the suspect pinched my cheeks and neck gently … then he caressed my hair and kissed me. I pushed him away and he instantly looked down at the floor … I told my mother what had happened and she called my father. My father came home quickly and he called the police. Police arrived to the building shortly after that … after a bit we went to the police station and I identified the suspect in the line-up,” the girl told the prosecutors.
A ruling will be heard on March 12.
