Dubai: A gardener who raped a 15-year-old teenager on seven different occasions and caused him a psychological trauma, has been jailed for three years.

The Egyptian teenager’s father requested his Pakistani co-worker, 26, to come to his place to trim his children’s hair in 2016.

Following several visits by the Pakistani to give the boy a haircut, the father realised his son wasn’t sleeping properly after having continuous nightmares.

When he took his son to a mental health specialist, the father was advised to admit him to a hospital for further check-up, observation and treatment.

After the boy spent six months getting treated, doctors notified the father that his son had been sodomised repeatedly.

The father reported the matter to the police, who detained the Pakistani man.

On Wednesday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of raping the minor.

Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi said the accused, who pleaded not guilty, will be deported following the completion of his jail term.

Court papers said the Pakistani is a gardener, but it was not clear why the Egyptian called him to cut his son’s hair.

“I was in Pakistan at the time when the incident was reported to have happened,” the accused told the court that handed him a lenient punishment after submitting a waiver from the boy’s father.

The Egyptian father said he took his son to the hospital after the latter started suffering insomnia and mental trauma.

“Following six months of examination and treatment, doctors told me that my son had been raped several times at my residence. I reported it the police in February 2018,” he testified.

The teenager told prosecutors that the accused constantly sneaked into his bedroom, undressed and sexually assaulted him. “My father used to ask him to come over to give me and my brothers a haircut. Once, he took advantage of the fact that my parents had left the house and forced himself on me. He had sex with me around seven times, the last of which was in December 2017. I couldn’t resist him because I was too scared and he was strong,” the boy testified.

The primary ruling remains subject to appeal.