Dubai: A jobless man followed a saleswoman into a lift and groped her twice, heard a court on Wednesday.
The Filipina saleswoman was said to be walking to her workplace at a mall when she entered the lift and pressed on the first-floor button in April.
Shortly after the door opened, a 26-year-old Afghan walked into the lift and greeted the Filipina, according to records, and asked her about herself.
The man groped the saleswoman’s top at first and then caressed her top without her consent and rushed out of the lift.
The Filipina reported the matter to the police who apprehended the Afghan.
Prosecutors charged the suspect with groping the woman twice.
When the suspect showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance, he pleaded guilty but provided presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi with a written waiver that he claimed to have obtained from the Filipina.
When asked what he wanted from the court, the suspect said: “Mercy.”
The Filipina claimed to prosecutors that the incident happened when she was heading to her workplace in the mall on the outskirts of Dubai.
“The suspect stepped into the lift on the first floor. He greeted me and asked me how I was doing. Then suddenly he groped my top … and then he caressed it again and rushed out of the lift. I ran out to the mall’s security guard and told them what happened. Then I reported the matter to the police,” she testified to prosecutors.
The suspect was cited as admitting to prosecutors that he groped the saleswoman.
A verdict will be heard on June 6.
