Optical shop employee on trial for 'sexually harassing customer' in Dubai

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

An employee at an optical shop has been charged at the Dubai Court of First Instance with sexually harassing a customer.
According to public prosecution records, the incident took place on September 26 when the 26-year-old Indian employee grabbed the Filipina woman's arm and kissed her on the cheek.
The complainant, a 31-year-old real estate officer, recounted during prosecution investigation that she went to a shopping centre after 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.
"The defendant, who worked in the shop, took me inside a room and as he was doing the check-up, 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."
As her answers were negative, the defendant 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 by the left arm then cornered her. He tried to kiss her but as she tried to keep him away from her, 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, an Indian. "He walked back with me to the 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 which has been enclosed by the public prosecution to the case file, read 'sorry for harassing and trying to kiss a customer'.
The accused has been detained.
A ruling will be issued on December 16.
mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai