Dubai: A visitor was handed a suspended three-month jail term for molesting a female employee when he playfully pinched her cheeks and told her that she is cute.
The 31-year-old Indian visitor entered a typing centre to do a transaction and visited the Indian employee at her counter in November.
While the woman was busy doing the visitor’s transaction, he took her by surprise and pinched her cheek.
The woman pushed the defendant’s hand away and left the counter after she asked her co-worker to do the man’s transaction.
The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 31-year-old of molesting the woman and breaching her modesty but noted that there were grounds for leniency.
The accused had pleaded guilty and admitted that he molested the woman.
According to Sunday’s ruling, presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi said the defendant will be deported.
The woman testified that the accused came to her counter at 1.30pm to do a transaction.
“While I was busy printing his transaction, the accused playfully pinched my cheeks … then he looked at me and said, ‘You are so cute’. He also flirted with me … but I stopped him and pushed his hand away. Then I stood up and left my desk. I asked my colleague to complete his papers,” the employee told prosecutors.
The defendant admitted during prosecution questioning that he touched the woman’s cheeks.
Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
