Dubai courts: Worker acquitted of entering bedroom, groping sleeping woman

Dubai: A worker has been cleared of being drunk and entering the bedroom of five women and groping one of them as she slept.

In August, A Filipina waitress, who shared a bedroom with four women at their labour accommodation, was asleep when she woke up suddenly to a hand that was reportedly groping her.

The waitress, who was on the upper bunk bed, looked to see who had touched her, before she noticed her Pakistani co-worker, 26, hurrying out of the room.

The Filipina jumped out of her bed and woke up her roommates, before calling the police at 12.30am.

When the waitress was speaking to the police on their arrival, the accommodation’s watchman brought the worker and handed him over to the police.

When confronted with the woman’s claims, the worker told police interrogators that he was drunk when he mistakenly entered the wrong bedroom.

Citing lack of corroborated evidence, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the Pakistani man of trespassing and groping the Filipina woman.

Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi said the Pakistani will be tried for drinking before the Misdemeanours Court, due to jurisdictional purposes.

The man pleaded not guilty and denied groping the woman when he defended himself in court. “I did not touch her. I was drunk and walked into the wrong room,” he told the court.

The Filipina waitress alleged that the incident happened after she had slept. “I am used to covering my eyes with a pillow whenever I sleep. I felt a hand groping my top. I removed the pillow and saw the suspect. The light coming through the window helped me recognise the suspect instantly. When he realised that I had woken up, he ran out of the room. I woke up my roommates and told them what he had done. When the police came, the watchman helped them find the suspect,” she testified to prosecutors.

The ruling remains subject to appeal.