Dubai: A chef has been accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl after luring her to a room under the staircase in a residential building.

The seven-year-old Jordanian girl had gone to play with other children from the neighbourhood in a games area of a residential tower at the International Media Production Zone in Dubai when the 21-year-old Egyptian chef is said to have spotted her in the lift.

According to records, the incident happened in December. The chef asked the girl where she was heading and she replied that she was going to the games area. The chef is said to have then lured the child to the staircase room and abused her.

The suspect is then believed to have asked the girl not tell anyone about what had happened but the frightened girl rushed back to her house and informed her father, records said.

Police were called in and, upon checking surveillance cameras in the building, the chef was identified and apprehended within an hour.

Prosecutors accused the suspect of kidnapping the girl and sexually abusing her.

When he appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance, the chef strongly denied the charges and pleaded not guilty. “I did not do that,” he told presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi.

The girl’s father told prosecutors that the incident happened shortly after his daughter had gone down to play with the neighbours’ children in the building’s games area.

“She returned very quickly and seemed scared and confused. She told me something bad had happened. Then when I asked her what happened, she told me that the suspect took her from the lift to the staircase room and did something bad to her. She also told me that he asked her to remain silent and not to tell anybody about what had happened; he also told her that she would never see his face,” the father testified.

A police sergeant told prosecutors that the suspect was identified based on footage obtained from surveillance cameras.

“Upon questioning him, the suspect admitted that he asked the girl to go with him after telling her that he would guide her to the games area. He also admitted that he took her to the staircase room where he abused her sexually,” the sergeant testified.

Presiding judge Al Shamsi said the court will appoint a lawyer to defend the suspect when it reconvenes on April 19.