Man denies molesting wheelchair-bound girl, Dubai court hears

Sri Lankan FH, 29, allegedly touched the Syrian girl’s breast and took off his shorts to reveal himself in front of her as she was leaving a supermarket with her sister.

DUBAI // A man accused of molesting a 10-year-old girl in a wheelchair told a court on Monday that he was trying to push her chair out of his way when he touched her accidentally.

The Dubai Criminal Court was told that Sri Lankan F H, 29, touched the Syrian girl’s breast and took off his shorts to reveal himself in front of her as she was going from a supermarket to her home with her sister.

“I didn’t touch her, she was in the wheelchair in the lift and I just wanted to move the chair from my way but I accidentally touched her – I didn’t mean to touch her,” said the defendant.

The girl’s 35-year-old father, M A, said in court records that he was on his way to his job as a chef at 8.30pm on August 31 last year when his daughters told him they wanted to go to the supermarket in their building at the Greek cluster in International City.

He took them down to the supermarket and then left them there to go to work.

“At 9.30pm my wife called me at work and told me that one of our daughters was molested when they returned from the supermarket,” said the father.

He said he returned home then called police, who arrived and checked the supermarket’s surveillance cameras but found no evidence.

“I asked my daughter and she said that the defendant touched her breast and took off his shorts in front of her when they were at the lift,” the father said. “She was so scared and crying after the incident and wouldn’t leave the apartment.”

The father then searched the building for the man, who his daughter said had a tattoo on his shoulder, but could not find him. He also did a search the next day with his daughters in tow and, as they were about to give up, his daughter spotted the man.

“As we took the lift, my daughter saw him and told me,” said the father, who checked the tattoo to make sure it was the same man then confronted him.

“He told me he was sorry, so I called police who came and took over things from there.”

The girl told prosecutors that she screamed at the man when he touched her but then he followed her to the lift and waited until her sister had walked away towards their apartment door before revealing himself.

“I moved my chair and looked away when he did that then told my mother about what happened,” said the girl.

A verdict is due on February 26.