Dubai: A cleaner has been jailed for one year for molesting three schoolboys, who reported him to a policeman who was giving a school lecture about sexual harassment.

The schoolboys confided their sexual ordeal to the policeman shortly after he had finished a lecture on sexual harassment titled ‘When To Say No’ at a boys’ school in Hatta in May.

The 32-year-old Bangladeshi cleaner, H.S., was said to have molested the three Emirati schoolboys in the school’s washroom. The defendant used to walk behind students into washrooms, open the door and watch them using the toilet. He was also said to have groped more than three schoolboys at the same school.

Despite having entered a not guilty plea, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of molesting three minors [under the age of 14] and groping them.

“The accused will be deported following the completion of his jail term,” presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat said in courtroom three on Monday.

According to the charge sheet, Chief Prosecutor Khalid Al Zarouni said the defendant abused the boys’ innocence when he molested them to satisfy what was described as “sick sexual desire”.

The molested schoolchildren were aged between seven and eight.

The policeman testified to prosecutors that the schoolboys came to him shortly after he finished the lecture claiming that they had been molested by the cleaner.

“Towards the end of the lecture, the floor was open for discussion and deliberations. The trio came to me and said that H.S. used to open the bathroom door and watch them using the toilet. They said the cleaner used to gaze at them before groping them. Shortly after that I reported the matter to the school’s management. I went to examine the washroom doors at the second floor to ensure whether the doors could be opened by coins from outside to confirm what the boys claimed to me. It turned out to be true. I reported the matter to Hatta police station… the defendant was taken into custody and questioned,” the policeman said.

Records said the school’s director had suspected the cleaner’s behaviour for some time.

During police questioning, the defendant was quoted alleging that he joked with the schoolboys when he watched them in the washroom and groped them.

A police officer testified: “Hatta residents were shocked when the incident was discovered. Meanwhile the victims’ parents refused to have their children referred to Dubai Police’s forensic examiner and examined. The parents also denied that their children had sexual intercourse with the cleaner.”

Monday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.