DUBAI // A male hairdresser who was sentenced to three months in jail for kissing a customer against her will after giving her a facial treatment was acquitted by the Dubai Court of Appeal.
The Dubai Criminal Court convicted Egyptian M A, 35, of sexually assaulting Romanian L P, 23, on June 7 last year. He was sentenced to three months in jail to be followed by deportation.
M A appealed and the verdict was overturned.
“I arrived and the hairdresser had me seated on a chair, isolated by a curtain, then started steam cleaning my face,” L P told the court. “He then applied some creams and all of a sudden, as I had my eyes closed, I felt his lips on mine,” she said, adding that she immediately called police.
Prosecutors said they viewed surveillance recordings from the salon but since the two were behind a glass barrier and a curtain, they only saw the woman walking out as she spoke on her phone while the defendant followed, trying to talk to her.
The hairdresser denied the charge in both criminal and appeal courts.
salamir@thenational.ae
