DUBAI // A 50-year-old man who appealed against a conviction and jail term handed down for molesting a girl while she was shopping with her mother, has had a deportation order added to his prison sentence.
The Syrian was convicted of sexual assault at Dubai Criminal Court last April and was sentenced to three months in prison. The incident took place on December 1 last year at the Union Cooperative Society in Al Muraqqabat.
The child’s 36-year-old Egyptian mother told investigators that the defendant came towards her and asked which tomatoes where the best. “I answered him then went on my way but noticed that he was around me wherever I went, so I thought he wanted to flirt with me.”
The mother, who is a teacher, said the man remained close to her and her daughter in every section of the supermarket. When they left the mother asked her daughter to return the shopping trolley while she waited in the car.
“It didn’t take more than a minute but she returned in a hurry, very scared and breathing heavily. When I asked what was wrong she said a man had touched her,” said the mother, who returned to the supermarket.
“When I was shown camera footage we saw the man following my daughter to where she dropped off the trolley,” she said.
The mother reported him to police and told officers how he had followed them.
The defendant denied the charge but was convicted and sentenced. He will be deported after serving his jail term.
salamir@thenational.ae
