DUBAI // A 27-year-old Egyptian will spend three months in jail after he was found guilty of groping a woman as she stepped out of a lift.
On March 16 this year, the Chinese victim was headed to her home in the Chinese Cluster in International City at around 8.30pm.
“When I got into the lift there was an Arab man, he stood behind me,” said the 23-year-old woman, who added that as she was leaving the lift on the third floor he grabbed her behind.
“I tried to catch him but he pushed me and ran away,” she said.
The woman reported the incident to police who managed to identify the defendant from CCTV camera footage and arrested him.
The footage showed him entering the lift and then, as the woman walked out, he stretched out his arm towards the lower part of her body. The woman was seen hitting the man and chased when he ran away.
The defendant denied a charge of sexual assault when he appeared at the Dubai Criminal Court and said he only tried to hold the woman’s hand.
However, he was convicted and jailed. He will be deported after serving his prison term.
salamir@thenational.ae
