Dubai A gardener has been accused of molesting a schoolgirl in a villa’s garden.
The 30-year-old Pakistani gardener, H.H., was said to have knocked on the door of the villa where the 16-year-old British girl lives with her parents and allegedly told her a cat was stuck between the fence and the wall in April.
The man is believed to have been watching the girl for a while, according to records, before realising she loved to feed stray cats. Once she turned around and knelt down wanting to check where the cat was stuck, the gardener allegedly hugged her from the back and groped her.
Prosecutors charged the suspect of molesting the teenager.
The defendant, however denied all charges: “I did not touch her … I don’t know the girl or her parents,” the defendant argued as he entered a not-guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.
According to the accusation sheet, prosecutors said H.H. exploited the fact that the girl was home alone before he hugged and groped her.
“Why would they complain against you then?” presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat asked the suspect in courtroom three.
“I don’t know. Actually I did not know anything about this case until the police stopped me while I was returning home. I had finished my gardening job at a villa and was heading back home when the police came and apprehended me,” replied H.H., who is on bail.
The British schoolgirl claimed to prosecutors the incident happened on a Friday afternoon while her parents were out.
“I heard the doorbell. When I answered the door, I realised it was the same gardener [H.H.] whom my mother had asked to leave from our premise sometime earlier. The previous time we didn’t understand what he wanted because his English was bad.
This time I asked him what he wanted and he claimed there was a cat stuck between the steel net fence and the wall of our garden … he claimed the cat was dying. When I turned around and bent over, he grabbed me by my thighs and touched me indecently. I shouted at him and told him my parents were about to arrive after which he took his bicycle and rode away. I called my parents and informed them what had happened. Then we reported the matter to the police and I gave them the suspect’s descriptions. Later police summoned me to come identify the defendant after they arrested him. The suspect knew I loved feeding stray cats because he constantly saw me feeding them milk outside,” she testified to prosecutors.
The British mother confirmed her daughter’s statement, contending that she found her devastated and crying when she returned home.
A policeman claimed to prosecutors: “We arrested the defendant in a nearby area as he was heading back to his house. When I questioned him, H.H. dismissed the girl’s claims. He alleged he went to do some gardening job in Jumeirah and was returning home when the police stopped him.”
A ruling will be heard next month.
