Driver jailed for harassing siblings at Dubai shop

Dubai - The accused repeated his indecent acts with the boy and girl several times.

A Pakistani driver, 39, who sexually harassed two siblings, aged 13 and 8, at an electronics shop, has been jailed for six months by a Dubai court.
According to the public prosecution records, the driver repeated his indecent acts with the boy and girl several times while they were away from their father at the shop in a shopping centre.
He denied the charge at the Court of First Instance, claiming it was unintentional. But he was convicted and ordered to be deported after the jail term.
The incident that took place on April 14 was reported to Bur Dubai police station.
The 13-year-old boy from New Zealand said he was checking mobile phones in the shop around 8pm when the man stood very close behind him in a way their bodies touched.
"He did it at first twice and when I turned and asked him whether there was anything wrong with him ,he just left. But he came back again and repeated the same behaviour several times."
His sister said the man groped her about 10 times. "I then saw him following my brother and standing close to him."
Their father, a 64-year-old architect, said he requested the security guards to check the CCTV recordings after he heard from his children about the man's doings.
"I was told by the guards that my children's claims were true. When I confronted the defendant, he said he was sorry. He then kept begging me to forgive him and let him go. But I called the police and he was arrested."
A police sergeant said he received the sexual harassment report at 9.15pm.
"I went to the shopping centre and I saw the CCTV footage which caught the accused looking around suspiciously before he walked to the first victim and touched him. He denied to me he could have touched the boy and claimed it was unintentional. But he then said he was sorry and asked for forgiveness."
mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai