Dubai: A man has been cleared of groping the 12-year-old daughter of his flatmate while she was sleeping in her bedroom.
The 45-year-old Filipina flatmate put her daughter to bed at 1am and went to to the kitchen while her 37-year-old countryman was drinking with his friends in the sitting room in August.
Shortly after the friends left, the 37-year-old man, who was too drunk went to bed. At that time, the mother of the girl asked her Filipina friend to check on her daughter. The Filipina friend told the mother that she had seen the 37-year-old suspect groping her daughter in bed.
The mother scolded the man reported the matter to the police.
On Monday, the Dubai Court of First Instance acquitted the 37-year-old suspect of groping the 12-year-old girl due to lack of corroborated evidence.
The Filipino suspect pleaded not guilty and told the court he did not grope the girl.
When asked by the court why the mother had filed a complaint against him, the man replied: “I do not know. Maybe she was angry with me.”
The girl told prosecutors that she was sleeping in her bed when she felt someone touching her posterior and caressing her back.
“The suspect was half dressed and had been drinking with his friends in the sitting room when I went to the bed. At 3.30am, I felt someone touching my posterior and top of my back. Once I opened up my eyes, I realised that it was the suspect. I was so shocked. At that time my mother’s friend [the 35-year-old woman] walked into the room and kicked the suspect out of the room,” she told prosecutors.
The mother told prosecutors that the suspect came to the kitchen twice while she was busy cooking.
“My 35-year-old friend and I were very busy in the kitchen and I was too worried because the suspect seemed very drunk that night. My friend, who shares the room with the suspect, checked on my daughter twice. The third time, when she went to check on my daughter, she told me that she had seen the suspect groping my daughter. I rushed to the room and saw my daughter in a state of shock,” the mother told prosecutors.
The suspect dismissed the mother’s claims when he appeared before the court.
The primary ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
