Man says devil made him molest girl

Court told he fondled 11-year-old in elevator of her building.

DUBAI // A man told a court this morning that he had been tempted by the devil to follow an 11-year-old schoolgirl and molest her.

The Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance was told that the Indian KK, 24, a salesman at the the supermarket in the building where the Indian girl lives, touched her breasts and thigh.

About noon on June 13, after she returned from school, the girl said she went to the supermarket to buy some items, but left because it was too crowded.

"When I took the lift, the man appeared suddenly and got inside the lift as well," she told prosecutors, adding that he moved to stand behind her.

He touched her breast and thigh before the lift's door opened, and she ran out screaming, she said.

A female nieghbour heard her and rushed to see what had happened. She told the woman, but KK had already fled, prosecutors say.

The neighbour, N, went to the girl's family's apartment and told her father, MA, about the incident, records show.

MA testified that he rushed out to look for KK and found him in front of the building, restrained by several men who had heard about the incident.

TA, a police officer at the Naif police station, said KK confessed to molesting the girl, saying the devil had tempted him.

He did not appear in court this morning; the next hearing is scheduled for October.