DUBAI // A cleaner who kissed a seven-year-old girl because she reminded him of his daughter was yesterday jailed for three months.
Prosecutors told the Criminal Court that S?S, 44, from Bangladesh, approached the Indian girl as she played with friends in a garden at the Greens on April 14 this year.
He caressed her and kissed her on the cheeks and lips, but the cleaner insisted his motivation was innocent.
He said he often patted her head because she looked like his daughter. He said on the day in question he patted her head and kissed her once on the cheek.
The girl said he also kissed her on the lips.
“He was wiping the floor but when he saw us, he put aside his broom and walked towards me. He hugged me then kissed me on the cheeks and lips,” recalled the girl. She said she pushed him and ran to her friend’s apartment before going home and telling her mother.
The cleaner was found guilty of molestation and will be deported after completing his jail term.
salamir@thenational.ae