Dubai: A cleaner, who kissed a 5-year-old girl as she played on the trampoline at her neighbour’s residence, has been jailed for six months.
The Iranian girl’s mother discovered that the 46-year-old Indian cleaner, who works around the neighbourhood, had molested her daughter.
The girl was with her family at the park when she saw her mother giving excess food to the defendant in March. Once the mother returned to her car, she saw her daughter squirming in disgust. When asked the cause, the 5-year-old girl told her mother that the cleaner had kissed her on her mouth two times before and has bad mouth smell.
The parents called the police, who summoned the cleaner for questioning.
On Sunday, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant of hugging and kissing the girl against her will.
Presiding judge Fahd Al Shamsi said the accused will be deported.
The defendant denied molesting the girl and contended in court that he gave her a fatherly kiss.
“I did not kiss her mouth. I gave her a peck on the cheek as she reminded me of my daughter,” he said in court.
The mother claimed said she learnt about the incident few days after her daughter had been kissed by the accused.
“She told me that the defendant has a bad mouth odour once I asked her why was she disgusted. When I asked her for details, she told me that he kissed her twice while she was playing on the trampoline at the neighbours residence. She told me that she was too scared to tell us what had happened earlier. We reported the matter to the police,” she testified.
The Iranian schoolgirl told prosecutors that the accused licked her face and kissed her while playing outside the house.
The ruling remains subject to appeal.
