Dubai: Prosecutors successfully appealed for an increased jail term against a cleaner who exposed himself before a five-year-old schoolgirl and molested her at her house.
The 23-year-old accused, who used to work at the girl’s house, touched her inappropriately in April as she sat in a couch in her home.
The girl’s father alerted police shortly after his daughter told him what had happened.
The Dubai Court of First Instance had, in June, sentenced the Pakistani defendant to one year in jail for molesting the girl and exposing himself in front of a minor.
The accused appealed the primary judgement before the Appeal Court and sought to have his imprisonment overturned.
Prosecutors also appealed seeking an increased jail term instead of the one-year sentence handed out to him.
Presiding judge Saeed Salem Bin Sarm rejected the defendant’s appeal while admitting the prosecutors’ plea and increased the jail term to three years.
“The court has decided to change the punishment from one year in jail to three years. The accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment,” said presiding judge Bin Sarm.
The defendant had pleaded guilty to the charge of molestation but sought leniency.
The father testified that his wife called him shortly after his daughter’s harrowing experience. “My wife told me over the phone that our daughter was sitting in the couch when the accused molested her; my girl also told her mother that the defendant caused her pain. The defendant also asked her not to tell my wife what had happened,” the father said.
A police lieutenant testified before prosecutors that the defendant admitted the charges against him during questioning.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal within 26 days before the Cassation Court.
