Man gropes 12-yr-old girl inside Dubai building lift

Dubai - Prosecutors accused the 35-year-old man of inappropriately touching the girl.

A delivery worker, who allegedly molested a 12-year-old girl in a residential building's lift, was charged at the Dubai Court of First Instance on Thursday.
Prosecutors accused the 35-year-old Pakistani man of inappropriately touching the girl, an Indian, on June 16 while on his way to drop a package.
He denied the charge in court. The incident was reported at Al Rafaa police station.
During the investigation, a 34-year-old Indian housewife said the girl came to her house for their usual private tutorial session in mathematics.
"She had to go back to her place to bring some papers she had forgotten. However, when she came back, she looked pale and she was crying and shaking."
The girl then told her how a man walked inside the lift and groped her while asking about a certain address.
"I went out with her to look for that man. We were still in the lift when we spotted him at the sixth level. The girl pointed at him as the man who molested her. She kept crying when she saw him. The suspect remained quiet as I yelled at him and asked him why he harassed the girl," the witness told the prosecutor.
The housewife requested a neighbour to check the surveillance cameras in the security guard's room. Then, she told the mother about the incident.
The building's security guard said the girl lived in the adjacent building.
"The accused worker knew where he was going because he signed the visitors' book at the reception. He knew the floor and the flat number he wanted to go to. I checked the cameras and saw him following the girl inside the lift."
The CCTV footage showed the defendant heading to the fifth floor to drop a package. But he changed his way and followed the victim without delivering it.
The defendant admitted that he followed the girl and asked her about the address even though he knew where it is.
He has been detained and he will be sentenced on September 16.
mary@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai