DUBAI // A labourer with a record of sexual assaults who molested a 15-year-old British girl as she slept on a sofa in her family’s villa was sentenced to three months in jail.
On Sunday, Z Z, 27, a Bangladeshi, was convicted at Dubai Criminal Court of sexual assault and trespassing.
Schoolgirl R B told prosecutors that in October last year she had a number of friends sleeping over at her house.
One of the friends, S K, 15, said that around midnight he awoke to see a shadow passing by. He thought it was another of their friends, so went back to sleep again.
About five hours later, as R B slept on the sofa, she felt someone’s hand touching her body under her dressing gown.
“I then felt the hands trying to untie my pyjama’s waist cord,” said the girl, who woke up, screamed and kicked the person.
“He started laughing then ran out of the room and, minutes later, he returned thinking I went back to sleep but I was actually waking up my friend. When he saw me doing so, he ran away,” she said.
The girl and her friend chased the defendant out of the kitchen door but the man escaped.
In the kitchen, they found a note written in broken English inside her swimming costume that read: “I want to have sex with you.”
Inside her bag she also found another note from Z Z asking him to add her as a friend on Facebook.
The girl then told her father, who called police.
“She woke up terrified,” said S K.
A security guard for the area told police that Z Z had been arrested before for trespassing into villas and molesting women as they slept.
Policeman M A, 26, said that the security guard identified Z Z through pictures provided by police.
When Z Z was arrested at his workplace he denied the crime.
“But when the victim identified him, he confessed and said he just likes touching women regardless of their age,” said the policeman.
The labourer told police that he would wait for it to get dark before sneaking into women’s homes. The defendant will be deported after completing his jail term.
salamir@thenational.ae
