Dubai: A driver has been accused of kissing, hugging and groping a saleswoman, who had rented a bed space at his flat in International City. The 30-year-old Pakistani driver, S.H., was said to leased a bed space to the Vietnamese saleswoman and he kissed her head and neck and groped her when he went to collect the rent in August.

Prosecutors accused S.H. of molesting the saleswoman.

The suspect strongly refuted what he described as the woman’s fabricated claims when he entered a not guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Tuesday.

Prosecutors said S.H. abused the fact that they were both alone in the flat when he groped her and kissed her neck and head.

“She is a liar. She lodged her complaints out of malice. I did not molest her … she rents a bed space at my flat and when I asked her to leave the place because she was late in paying the rent, she lodged this complaint out of spite,” S.H. argued before presiding judge Shaikha Hamad.

The 26-year-old Vietnamese testified to prosecutors that the incident happened at 10.30am when she was sleeping.

“I had rented a bed space at the suspect’s flat for Dh700 per month at International City’s England Cluster. The suspect took me by surprise and kissed my head and neck while I was asleep … when I woke up, I instantly pushed him away and asked him to stop. He said that he loved me and missed me and slept on my bed … I pushed him away again when he hugged me and molested me. I pushed him away when he tried to hug me again. I cried and asked him to leave me alone. Then I told him that I would leave his flat because I did not want him to trouble me … he said that I had to stay until the lease is over and that I cannot vacate before September ends. We argued over the rent … then I went to the washroom where I changed and left to work. Obviously, he intended to sleep with me. When I reached my workplace at Dragon Mart, my colleague advised me to leave the flat. Thereafter I contacted the suspect’s girlfriend via WhatsApp and informed her that I had decided to leave the flat … but she said that I had to wait until September. The suspect sent me voice messages in which he cursed me and threatened me … when I replied saying that I wanted to leave the flat, he cursed me again. Then I reported the matter to the police,” she claimed to prosecutors.

Meanwhile S.H. was cited as telling prosecutors that he tapped the woman’s shoulder repeatedly to wake her up.

A ruling will be heard on October 25.