Estate agent molested 10-year-old girl in lift, Dubai court hears

Syrian accused on getting girl to touch him but he refutes what he calls fabricated allegations brought about by a row over a parking space, the court hears.

DUBAI // An estate agent is accused of molesting a 10-year-old while alone with her in a lift.

The Indian girl testified that she was in the lift of her building heading to her family’s house on December 5 last year when Syrian A H, 27, came into the lift.

As the door closed she said the man asked to hold her hand but she got scared and refused. He insisted and when she finally stretched her arm towards him, she said he pulled it and placed it on his genitals.

“I got frightened and pulled my hand and, at that moment, the lift opened, so I ran out,” said the girl.

Her parents testified that later that day their daughter got very scared when they went to the lift. When they asked her about it, she told them about the incident.

“She told me he started chatting with her about her name, age and school before he did what he did,” said the Indian father M J, 40.

He told the security guard, who helped the father search for the man but they did not find him.

Days later, the girl was with her mother in the lift when she saw the man and told her mother. Police were called and he was arrested and then charged at Dubai Criminal Court with sexual assault.

The defendant denied the charge. “There are cameras at the building but no one took the time to look at the recordings,” he said before asking the court to listen to the testimony of his brother.

His brother testified that they moved to the same building as the family of the girl two and a half years ago. “We parked our car in a spot and suddenly the girl comes and argues with my brother that this was for her father,” the brother said.

“Since then, whenever we parked there, the girl would confront us and, as a result, the dispute became with her family as well.

“On the date of the incident, I was with my brother and he did nothing to her and, if he did, why did it took them so long to report the incident?

“It proves that the father deceitfully accused my brother of having groped his daughter.”

He added that it was a false complaint and said he wanted to go to prison with his brother if the court finds him guilty.

A verdict is due on March 30.