DUBAI // A 45-year-old man molested a woman while she was standing at a hotel reception desk, a court heard.
The British woman was standing at the Jumeira Rotana hotel reception desk on March 10 when the Indian man, who was passing from behind her, ran his hand up her bottom, prosecutors said. The woman called police.
“I spoke to the woman and she said that the defendant apologised to her but she insisted on reporting him to police,” an Emirati policeman, 27, said. The accused, a blacksmith, told police it happened by mistake, he said.
The woman said she could smell alcohol on the man, who was arrested and charged with sexual assault and consumption of alcohol without a licence.
He denied the first charge and confessed to the second when he appeared in court on Sunday morning. Prosecutors said the man confessed during questioning.
Camera footage showed that the accused walked very close to the woman from behind, after which she looked back at him, then pushed him away from her.
The next hearing will be on August 7.
salamir@thenational.ae
