Salesman jailed for molesting salon worker

Dubai: A salesman was jailed for three months for stalking a salon worker and groping her as she walked to her car.

The incident was reported in July. The Pakistani salesman, M.A., 22, followed the woman, who is also Pakistani, into an empty alley and groped her.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of molesting the woman although he pleaded not guilty.

The accused will be deported following the completion of his jail term, according to the primary ruling.

Records stated that the woman and her sister took along photographs of M.A. along with the car in which he had been sitting with two others when they registered a complaint with the police.

The woman told prosecutors that the accused molested her near the salon where she and her sister worked in Satwa. “I was walking to my vehicle when I spotted the defendant sitting along with two other men in a pickup. The three men looked at me strangely and laughed at me. I ignored them and continued walking to my car. I took a small alley that leads to where I had parked my car, suddenly I felt someone groping me from behind. At first I thought it was my sister joking with me but when I noticed that it was a man’s hand I shouted and turned around. I pushed him immediately and shouted loudly.

“He ran away immediately. Then I shouted at him again and he stopped and stared at me. I was confused and scared, he ran away again. I rushed to my sister at the salon and told her what had happened. Then we went to the vehicle and she drove; I noticed the same pickup in a place close by. My sister stopped the car and I opened the window and saw the suspect sitting in the passenger seat. When I asked him if he was the one who had groped me, he said yes. I asked him to come down and I stepped out of the car; when I told him that I would report him to the police, he denied that he had molested me,” she testified.

The woman’s sister confirmed her statement and the fact that they took a snapshot of the defendant and the car so they could report the incident to police.

Records said that the woman identified the defendant from the green shirt that he had been wearing at the time of the incident.

The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 13 days.