Staff at optician shop in Dubai kisses customer after eye check, gets jail term

Dubai - She had visited a driving institute office in a shopping mall, and was asked to get her eyes tested.

An optical shop employee was sentenced to three months in jail by a Dubai court on Monday after he was found guilty of sexually harassing a customer.

The 26-year-old Indian employee reportedly grabbed the Filipina's arm and kissed her on the cheek, according to public prosecution records.

The Dubai Court of First Instance ordered that the defendant be deported after completing his jail term.

The complainant, a 31-year-old real estate officer, said the incident happened when she went to a shopping centre past 10pm.

"I visited a driving institute office and was instructed to go to a nearby optician's shop to check my eyes and get a report," she recounted during the investigation.

"The defendant, who worked in the shop, took me inside a room. As he checked my sight, he kept asking personal questions like where I stayed, whether I had a boyfriend, if I could go out with him for dinner, and if I could travel with him to his country to get married."

The defendant then asked for her mobile number. "I thought he would write it on the receipt. But he rang me to check if the number was correct," she recalled.

On her way out of the room, he grabbed her left arm, then cornered her. He tried to kiss her but as she was pushing him away, he ended up kissing her on the left cheek.

She wrote down on a piece of paper that the examiner sexually harassed her, but the cashier tore the paper up and threw it away.

She then went back to the driving institute office and informed the employee. "He walked back with me to the optician's shop. We waited for the defendant to return from dinner. The institute's employee told him to apologise in writing to me. The defendant stamped the paper with his shop's seal," she told the prosecutor.

As they walked out of the shop, the defendant followed her and kept apologising.

She lodged a complaint against him at Al Muraqqabat police station the next day.

The written note - which the customer added to her complaint and had been attached to the case file - read 'sorry for harassing and trying to kiss a customer'.

The accused has been detained. He can appeal the ruling within 15 days.

mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai