DUBAI // A gardener molested a girl, 3, as she played in a garden near her home in the Springs, a court heard.
Prosecutors said a neighbour, HM, 15, from India, and the girl’s brother confronted the gardener after seeing him touching her inappropriately. The gardener ran away.
“I was playing at the basketball court when I noticed the man touching my neighbour’s little daughter,” recalled the Indian. He said that as he walked towards the farmer he saw him touch another boy who was passing by.
“The gardener ran away when he saw me and the girl’s brother coming towards him,” added the neighbour.
Prosecutors said the incident took place on August 14 this year.
The girl’s father, 39, from Syria, said the neighbour informed him of the attack. “He came to me with his aunt and told me what he saw,” he said.
When the father lodged a complaint to police, officers obtained records and images of all the gardeners contracted to work in the Springs area on that day. The neighbour identified the gardener.
At the Criminal Court the gardener denied a charge of sexual assault of a minor. “I didn’t do that and I don’t even know the place they said the incident happened in,” said MB, 35, from Pakistan.
A verdict is expected on December 17.
salamir@thenational.ae