Prosecutors lose appeal against masseur

Dubai: Prosecutors lost their appeal against a masseur who was cleared of molesting a 14-year-old schoolboy in a lift.

The Indian boy walked out of the BurJuman metro station when the 39-year-old Pakistani masseur stopped him to ask him for directions in February 2018.

The masseur asked the boy some personal questions and then introduced himself as a massage spa worker before he followed the boy into the lift of a building.

The masseur was reported to have hugged the schoolboy and molested him when they were inside the lift.

In July, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the 39-year-old of hugging the boy and touching his waist and thighs.

Prosecutors appealed the primary ruling and asked the Appeal Court to overturn the suspect’s acquittal and have him imprisoned.

The masseur renewed his not guilty plea before Appeal Court and refuted his accusations.

When he appeared in court, he contended that he did not do anything to the boy.

“I only patted his shoulder,” he told the court.

Citing lack of corroborated evidence, presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm dismissed prosecutors appeal and upheld the suspect’s innocence.

The boy is alleged to have pushed the masseur away and ran out of the lift once the door opened, said records.

The 14-year-old ran instantly to his mother and told her what had happened before she reported the matter to the police.

The schoolboy reportedly alleged that the masseur stopped him on the street and asked him for directions.

“He asked me about my name and residency … and then he walked into the same lift. In the lift, he touched me inappropriately. I prevented him from putting his hand on my posterior as he was enticing me to perform a sexual activity with him … I rushed out of the lift quickly once the door opened,” he told prosecutors.

The boy’s mother alleged that her son was scared when he reached home at 9.15pm.

“He informed me about what had happened and I called the police. When we examined the CCTV camera footage, my son was spotted running out of the lift quickly and looking back … it was quite obvious that the suspect did something bad to him,” she said.

The Pakistani man firmly refuted the accusations brought against him.

The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court.