Woman molested as she swam

Dubai // A woman was sexually assaulted when a man dived underwater and grabbed her as she swam off Jumeirah public beach, a court was told yesterday. A Filipina witness, AM, told prosecutors that she heard her 27-year-old friend screaming as she was attacked by AA, an Egyptian, also 27. The incident happened on July 19. "We were at the beach that afternoon swimming," said AM, 20. "I heard my friend screaming and we saw a man swim to the shore and walk away.

"My friends tried to scream to him but he just walked away." The alleged victim told prosecutors that when she arrived at the beach in Umm Suqeim that morning, a group of men approached her but she kept away from them. She entered the water with her friends to swim and was attacked, she said. The woman said after she screamed the man swam back to shore and walked away, ignoring calls from her friends on the beach to stop. "He and his friends walked away and tried to hide from us," she said.

Police found AA loitering at the beach and arrested him, according to records at the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance. AA denies sexual assault. Presiding Judge El Saeed Bargouth adjourned the case until October 13 to deliver his verdict. [e-mail]