DUBAI // A labourer grabbed a cleaner's hair and pulled her to the ground after following her into a villa kitchen in the resort where they both worked, the woman told prosecutors. OS, 36, from Indonesia, said she had been cleaning the villa on May 14 and went into the kitchen to throw out some rubbish. KR, 36, from India, was working in the resort grounds and she asked him to clean out the rubbish bin.
The cleaner returned to the kitchen unaware that KR had followed her. She became frightened when he placed his hand on her shoulder and told her not to tell anyone. K R covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream, she told prosecutors. OS said she managed to escape from her attacker's grasp and ran screaming towards the door. He pulled her hair and pushed her as she continued to scream, then he hit her on the head with a hard object, grabbed her by the hair and pulled her as she fell to the ground, the cleaner claimed.
A cleaning supervisor, MY, heard the screams and rushed to the scene, and the labourer fled. OS identified him in a police line-up. Yesterday, at the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance, KR denied assaulting and molesting the cleaner. He told judge Hamad Abdel Lateef that he was trying to help her with her duties. The case was adjourned to October 14.
balqabbani@thenational.ae