Gardener jailed by Dubai court for molesting schoolgirl

DUBAI // A gardener who asked a 16-year-old girl to help rescue a dying cat was sentenced to three months in jail for molesting her.

The Dubai Criminal Court was told that Pakistani H B, 30, watched the victim, N M, who is from the UK, feeding cats outside her home in Al Satwa. He waited until she was home alone on April 17 this year before calling for her help.

“He rang the doorbell at 1pm and told me that my cat was dying and trapped in the garden,” the girl said.

“When I bent down to see her, he pressed his body against mine, but I pushed him.”

She told prosecutors that he then grabbed her breast. She tried to scare him off by telling him her parents were coming.

“He got scared and jumped on the bicycle and left,” said the schoolgirl, who then called her parents.

Police officer M K said officers met the girl’s father, who gave a description of the suspect. “We did some patrols in the area and saw H B, who matched the description we had,” said M K. “He was riding a bicycle near the residence of the victim.”

“When my daughter picked out H B from a line-up, I recognised that he had come about a month back and asked about our cats. I talked to him and I asked him to leave,” said N M’s mother, L T, 46, a teacher.

The gardener said he did not know the girl and, on the day of the incident, had been working in Jumeirah before returning to Satwa, where he was arrested.

In court in July, he pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault and told the judge he had never seen the victim before.

He was found guilty and will be deported after serving his jail term.