Woman acquitted of molestation charges

Dubai: A female manager has been cleared of tranquilising a birthday party guest's fruit juice with a 'date rape' drug and molesting her for lack of evidence, ruled a court on Tuesday.

The Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the 37-year-old Kuwaiti woman of sedating a 44-year-old Lebanese woman by putting the drug clomethiazole in her drink and molesting her, as charged by the Public Prosecution.

She was also cleared of endangering the victim's life by making her unwittingly drink the drug.

The suspect denied her charges and pleaded innocent before the court, which dismissed the victim's civil claim on Tuesday.

The Lebanese woman claimed: "A maid served me a juice at a birthday party which I attended at the defendant's flat. It tasted bitter after taking one sip."

Her eyes fluttered and she felt numb when the defendant forced her to drink, claimed the victim.

"The suspect asked a man seated beside me to undress me. I tried to resist him though I was partly drugged. Later I discovered myself naked and something was flashing in my face," said the victim who supposed that the suspect took pictures of her on her cell-phone. The claimant alleged that she was beaten before the man helped her leave the place.

During court proceedings one of the manager's two lawyers told the judge that his client works in art production and the alleged victim threatened to publish the story in the media before referring the case to court.

The lawyer asked the judge to hold the court proceedings behind closed doors and away from the media. The verdict is subject to appeal.