Sentence for 'Jumeirah Groper' increased

Man, 28, had been convicted of assaulting women while they slept in their homes.

DUBAI // A man dubbed the “Jumeirah Groper”, whose arrest was publicised by Dubai Police in November and who was sentenced last month to six months in prison for sexual assault and trespassing, was sentenced to another six months today.

SS, 28, a Sri Lankan laundry worker, was arrested on October 20 after reports to police that a man had been entering Jumeirah homes and sexually molesting women while they slept.

SS denied sneaking into the house of a 31-year-old female investor from Uzbekistan at 5am on October 20, 2010, and touching her, records said.

The victim MN told prosecutors that while she was sleeping with her son at her Umm Suqiem house, she felt someone touching her body and woke up to see a figure of a man sitting next to her bed, records show.

“When i tried to scream, he covered my mouth with his hand to silence me,” she said adding that she kicked him and he fell on the floor, then got up and climbed out the kitchen window, which was left open.

Last month, SS was sent to prison by the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance for sexual assault, trespassing and illegal consumption of alcohol after being convicted of breaking into the home of a British family at night and sexually abusing a woman as she slept by her husband. Dubai Police said the man crept in through an open window.