Dubai: A clerk, who groped and tried to kiss a cleaner in a villa’s washroom that she was cleaning, lost his appeal and will be jailed for three months.

The Filipina cleaner was hired to tidy up a villa in Al Warqa in December.

After her supervisor dropped her at the villa, the 20-year-old Filipina started cleaning the main hall before she moved to the washrooms.

The 28-year-old Indian clerk walked into the washroom behind her and offered to hoist her up to help clean the ceiling. She rejected his offer and headed to a second washroom where she was surprised to see the clerk waiting there.

The clerk hugged her, groped her, and tried to kiss on her lips. The Filipina pushed the clerk away and locked herself up inside the first washroom.

Then she called her supervisor, who instructed her to leave the villa instantly, and she later picked her up from the villa.

The Filipina reported the matter to the police and the clerk was arrested.

In February, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the accused and jailed him for three months.

The defendant appealed his primary ruling before the Appeal Court and asked to be acquitted.

According to the appeal ruling, presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected the defendant’s appeal and upheld his three-month jail term.

The accused will be deported.

The Filipina said the accused couldn’t molest her in the first washroom but later did so in the second one.

“He wanted to carry me up for cleaning the ceiling … but I refused and moved to the second washroom. There, he hugged me and groped from the back. Then he turned me towards him and tried to kiss me … I locked myself up in the other washroom and waited for my supervisor to arrive. When I walked out of the washroom, the defendant had already disappeared,” she said.

The supervisor said a friend of the villa’s owner apologised for the defendant’s behaviour.

“He gave me Dh200 to give to the cleaner as hush money. The friend, who knew the defendant, told me that the latter was seduced by the devil when he molested the Filipina,” he added.

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