Dubai: A computer operator will spend three months in jail for entering a women’s washroom and peeping over the toilet cubicle at a secretary when she was using the bathroom.

A 23-year-old Filipina administrator was using the washroom when she saw the 23-year-old Jordanian computer operator peeping at her countrywoman secretary while she was in the bathroom at the hotel where they work in May.

The administrator spotted the Jordanian man standing on the toilet seat in one cubicle and peeping over the partition between the two cubicles at 4.30pm.

Once the secretary was out, her co-worker [administrator] informed her that she had spotted the man peeping at her while she was using the bathroom.

The defendant remained inside the cubicle and refused to come out for 10 minutes after which he apologised to the two Filipinas claiming that he had entered the women’s washroom by mistake.

In September, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 23-year-old accused of entering a women’s washroom and molesting the Filipina by secretly watching her when she was in a state of undress and using the toilet.

The defendant appealed the primary judgement before the Appeal Court and sought to have his punishment reduced. He pleaded guilty and asked for forgiveness.

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

He will be deported after serving his punishment.

The secretary told prosecutors that when she came out of the bathroom, her co-worker informed her that the suspect had peeped at her while she was inside.

“I went to the washroom at the hotel where I work … after I finished and went to wash my hands, my co-worker [administrator] told me that the suspect had been peeping at me from above the partition between the cubicles. I looked from the under the cubicle’s locked door, and saw the suspect standing inside. I asked him to come out but he stayed there for 10 minutes. When he came out, he claimed that he had mistakenly entered the women’s washroom. However, when we checked the surveillance cameras, the Jordanian was seen going into the women’s washroom and coming out more than once,” she testified to prosecutors.

Wednesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.