Dubai: A manager lost his appeal on Sunday and will spend three months in jail for groping a cleaner and touching her inappropriately while she tidied his flat.
The Filipina cleaner was tasked by her employer [a housekeeping and housecleaning company] to go to the 46-year-old Egyptian manager’s residence in March 2018, to tidy it up after he hired her services on an hourly basis.
She walked into the flat’s partly open door at 2.30pm and started working and as she was ironing the clothes, the accused arrived and he called her into his bedroom to dust it.
When the victim started cleaning up, the accused groped her backside.
When she shouted at him, asking why he groped her, the Egyptian claimed that it happened by mistake. The cleaner then took her money and left.
In October, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Egyptian for groping the Filipina.
The accused appealed his primary judgement and sought to acquit himself before the Appeal Court.
On Sunday, presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif dismissed the defendant’s appeal and confirmed his jail sentence.
Presiding judge Al Sharif said the accused, who pleaded innocent, will be deported following the completion of his imprisonment.
The victim said she started tidying up the flat at 2.30pm meanwhile the accused arrived at the flat at 6pm.
“I was ironing when he called me to his bedroom and asked me to remove some dust that was in front of the bed. While I was cleaning, he groped my private parts and removed his hand very quickly. When I yelled at him, he claimed he touched me by mistake. Then he offered to pay me money and asked me to not report it to the police. I went to the kitchen; he followed me and paid me for the cleaning. Once I went downstairs, I called the police,” she testified.
A police corporal said when he reached the building, the Filipina was crying.
“We arrested the accused who said during questioning that he touched the victim by mistake,” said the corporal.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court.