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Optometrist ‘feels’ teen while checking eyesight

The Ajman Court of Appeal on Wednesday postponed pronouncement of its verdict in an appeal by a government hospital optometrist, who was convicted of molesting an 18-year-old woman patient, to April 24.

The Arab optometrist, identified as P.S, was sentenced to six months in jail followed by deportation by the Criminal Court of First Instance earlier.

His lawyer told the Appellate Court on Wednesday that his client has been working in the country for 32 years and he has not committed any such crime all these years. Moreover, the victim’s father had reported to the hospital earlier that his daughter suffered from delusions and that she imagined strange things.

The witnesses, who are staff members of the hospital, had also testified that the defendant has a good reputation and he has been examining female students of secondary schools for the past 17 years but no one has complained against him, the lawyer said.

According to the police case, the Arab woman reported that P.S molested her when she went to the hospital to check her eyesight in December last year. The accused touched her from head to feet, pretending that he was examining her. He went on to even grab her legs but she ran out of the room.

P.S admitted to the police that he touched the victim, including her legs, but justified himself saying that there was no nurse to help him and that he was forced to touch the patient while examining her.

afkarali@khaleejtimes.com