ABU DHABI // An Egyptian man groped a sleeping woman on a public bus, the criminal court heard on Monday.
The court was shown closed-circuit camera footage from the bus, on which the defendant G A was sitting behind the woman.
She was seen to be asleep and he was leaning forward towards her chair.
“It was not clear if he extended his hand to touch her or not,” said Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer after watching the footage.
“Then the woman suddenly woke up and turned towards him, as they were both sitting on the seats adjacent to the wall.”
G A had argued that he was leaning forward getting ready to disembark the bus.
However, the chief justice said it was noticed from the video that he only got out of his seat after the woman woke up and walked towards the back of the bus.
G A also claimed he was deep in sleep during the ride.
“The court noticed he was awake and moving a lot,” said the judge.
G A denied molesting the woman.
The defendant had previously been released on bail, but the judge ordered he be rearrested and sent to jail.
The verdict is due to be announced on April 28.
hdajani@thenational.ae
