DUBAI // A traveller will spend three months in jail for molesting a sleeping 19-year-old British student whom he befriended at Dubai airport.
The student was flying home after a four-day visit to a friend who lives in Dubai when the incident happened on January 10. She was at Terminal 1 waiting for her flight when the man approached her.
“It was nearly 4am and he informed me that the British Airways counter did not open until 7.30am and he invited me to have a coffee to pass the time,” she told prosecutors.
After having coffee with the 27-year-old man from Pakistan, she returned later to board but was told that her flight was among many that had been delayed.
“He was there, listening, so he offered to help me find a hotel room instead of spending the time at the airport,” she said.
The student said that the defendant booked at hotel room and accompanied her to it, and when there, he asked to use the toilet.
“He got out of the toilet only in his underwear. I told him to leave but he said he wouldn’t do anything and because he is just exhausted and wanted to relax,” she said.
The teenager sat on the bed and said that she didn’t realise she was falling asleep.
“When that happened I was awoken by him stroking my hair and touching my knees. I picked up my stuff and left the room,” she said, adding that she reported what happened at the airport and then left the country.
An Emirati police officer said: “He confessed to me that he planned to have sex with her but she left the room.” He said the defendant told police he was sorry for what he had done.
However, he denied a charge of sexual assault at Dubai Criminal Court last month but on Sunday he was convicted and sentenced to three months in jail.
salamir@thenational.ae