Dubai taxi driver found not guilty of molesting teenage passenger

DUBAI // A Pakistani taxi driver who was accused of molesting a 17-year-old passenger has been found not guilty by the Dubai Criminal Court.

Prosecutors told the court how A A, 31, was alleged to have groped Brazilian G K on March 19 this year after the teenager hailed his taxi in Knowledge Village at 10pm.

“I told him to take me to Umm Suqeim. He asked me where I came from and if I had a boyfriend,” said G K.

She told prosecutors A A stopped his car near Dubai Police Academy and insisted she sit in the front passenger seat.

“I was scared so I moved to the front seat. Then he continued driving and placed his hand on my thigh,” said G K, who called her mother and told her she was five minutes from home.

“After I finished the call, he touched my breast and pinched me before I pushed his hand away.”

G K noted the driver’s details and asked him to stop at a supermarket.

“When I exited the taxi, A A slapped me on my behind. I stayed inside the supermarket for 10 minutes to make sure he had left,” she said.

G K’s mother, B D, 53, told prosecutors her daughter came home in a distressed state.

“I thought one of our relatives had told her that her had grandfather died,” said B D, who reported the assault to police.

A A denied a charge of molestation when he appeared at the first hearing. He was found not guilty on Tuesday