DUBAI // A shop worker has denied molesting a seven-year-old girl after luring her to him with a toy, despite surveillance footage showing him lifting the child on to his lap.
Dubai Criminal Court heard on Tuesday that the Lebanese girl’s father was shopping with his wife and two daughters in Al Muraqqabat on May 9 when the incident was alleged to have occurred.
“I could see my daughters most of the time near us but then one of them came to me and said that a worker at the shop had showed her a toy and lured her into an empty corner, and then molested her,” said N K, the father.
He said the Bangladeshi worker, M A, 33, first tried to lure his six-year-old but failed when the older sister pulled the girl away to look at an item in the shop.
M A is accused of hugging the girl and touching her private parts.
The father said the he could not catch the defendant at the time because he had fled. He went to the shop’s management and asked to see the surveillance footage.
“When they refused I called police who came and turned on the camera recording,” he said.
The Bangladeshi was arrested in June after he returned to the shop. Prosecutors said he confessed to a charge of molestation when interrogated, but denied it in court. A verdict will be delivered on September 2.
salamir@thenational.ae
