DUBAI // A labourer followed a woman into the sea at a Dubai beach and groped her as she swam, a court heard yesterday.
He watched as she left her belongings and took a dip at Jumeirah Open Beach, then stripped off and followed her into the waves.
He swam alongside her and groped her, prosecutors told the Criminal Court.
A lifeguard saw the labourer and chased him along the beach before apprehending him.
"I noticed the defendant stopping next to a European woman's belongings on the beach. He then took off his clothes and went into sea," said the lifeguard SP, 42. "I saw him swim very close to the woman."
The lifeguard saw the woman push the labourer away and try to swim away.
"I knew then that he was trying to molest her," the lifeguard said.
The woman came out of the water and the lifeguard asked her what had happened.
"She told me he touched her behind and other parts of her body," the lifeguard said.
He then approached the labourer, who was changing.
"He denied molesting her and started running away from me, so I chased him, caught him, then called police."
The incident happened on the morning of July 28 this year.
The labourer, SS, 25, from Pakistan, was charged with sexual assault.
"I didn't do that and I ask for acquittal," he told the court.
A verdict is expected on September 18.
salamir@thenational.ae