Cook gets six months for molesting teen

Man met 13-year-old Briton during New Year's celebrations, then attacked her when they met up later.

DUBAI // An Egyptian cook who molested a teenage girl he met at a bar during New Year's celebrations has been sentenced to six months in prison to be followed by deportation.

TA, 27, denied the charge of molesting a minor at the Dubai Criminal Court last April.

Prosecutors said TA met the girl on January 1 when the 13-year-old Briton, SK, was with her parents at a bar. SK told prosecutors that she exchanged phone numbers with the defendant and later started texting him.

She said the defendant met her on January 8 at the Arabian Springs and she got into his car.

SK said TA tried to unbutton her shirt and kissed her on her cheeks and neck against her will. She told him her mother was calling her and she had to answer the call outside the car. She left him there and returned home.

Her mother, JS, 41, told prosecutors that on the day of the incident, her daughter returned home frightened and shivering.

"Her face was red, and there was a mark closer to a bruise on her neck," JS said.

After the mother insisted, the daughter told her what happened. SK's parents took her to the police to report the incident.

The defendant's friend JL, a 19-year-old Briton, testified that she warned the defendant against being involved with a 13-year-old girl. She said she saw him texting someone on January 1 and when she asked him, he told her he was texting SK.