Dubai: A salesman has been accused of groping a teenaged girl twice while she was shopping at a hypermarket in Bur Dubai.
The 41-year-old Indian salesman was said to have walked in front my his 16-year-old countrywoman while she was in front of a shelf and intentionally bumped into her from the front side, apologised and continued walking forward in December.
Thinking it was an unintended and an innocent mistake, the girl continued what she was doing, according to records, before the same man did it again. This time he touched her inappropriately.
The second time the man groped the girl, he smiled in her face, apologised and walked away, said records.
The teenager rushed out of the hypermarket, according to records, and as she stood on the pavement thinking of what had happened, she saw the same man standing behind the glass front and smiling at her. The girl then stormed back into the hypermarket and scolded the salesman, who ran away once she told him that she would report the matter to the police.
She later went home and told her father about the incident, before informing the police.
The man was apprehended nearly two months later and when summoned by the police, the girl identified him at the lineup three times.
Prosecutors accused the 41-year-old of breaching the girl’s privacy and touching her private parts.
When the suspect showed up before the Dubai Court of First Instance, he pleaded not guilty and claimed that it happened mistakenly.
The 16-year-old claimed to prosecutors that the incident happened around 6.30pm while she was shopping at the hypermarket.
“At first, the man ran into me and his hands touched my top. He looked at me instantly and apologised ... I did not bother myself since I thought it happened by mistake and he had apologised. Fifteen minutes later, he popped out of nowhere and suddenly groped my top for three seconds without moving his hands away. This time he looked me straight in the face, smiled, said sorry and walked away. I felt offended and very angry that I walked out of the shop quickly. However, as I was standing on the pavement and saw him smiling at me from behind the glass, I told myself that he had done it on purpose. I rushed back into the shop and scolded him ... I told him in a loud voice that he does not have any right to touch any girl and that I will call the police. But he ran away when he heard me mention that,” the girl testified to prosecutors.
A ruling will be heard on May 28.
