Dubai: A painter has been accused of molesting an unidentified female shopper by caressing her backside near the cashier of a grand store and touching himself lewdly in public.
The store’s Pakistani security guard was said to have spotted the 28-year-old Egyptian painter, M.A., on surveillance cameras standing behind the unknown woman and groped her back then he touched himself.
Prosecutors charged the defendant with molesting an unknown woman and committing an indecent act in public.
“Not at all. I did not do so. I did not touch the woman,” said M.A. when he entered a not guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.
“You were spotted on camera molesting the woman and touching yourself. There were pictures of you doing so on the surveillance cameras. Did you molest the woman and commit an indecent act in public?” presiding judge Urfan Omar asked the suspect in courtroom three.
“The cashier [queue] was congested with clients… and I did not commit a lewd act,” replied M.A. when he defended himself.
Security office
The Pakistani guard testified to prosecutors that he was watching the surveillance cameras from the control room when he spotted the defendant groping a shopper on February 5.
“The man was clearly shown on cameras molesting the shopper then he touched himself indecently. Meanwhile the shopper was shown trying to avoid the suspect… I informed my supervisor who reported the matter to the police,” claimed the guard.
A police corporal testified that the mall’s security office reported to them that the suspect had molested a woman.
“The defendant was kept in the security office. When I asked the suspect why he groped the woman’s posterior, he claimed that he was tired and could not control himself,” said the corporal.
Presiding judge Omar allowed the defendant to hand in his written defence within a week.
The ruling will be heard on May 5.
