DUBAI // A Pakistani worker is accused of molesting an 8-year-old girl after luring her and her little brother to play hide-and-seek with him.
The 21-year-old suspect allegedly touched the girl’s chest and kissed her on the cheek and neck before he threatened to kill her if she told anyone.
At Dubai Criminal Court, the defendant denied charges of sexual assault and issuing threats to kill. He also said that he is much younger than the age stated on his passport, and that he faked his age to be able to get a visa to the country.
The worker added that he regularly played hide-and-seek with the girl and her sibling under the building in a public place, not in the children’s building.
However, on the night of August 29, the siblings were playing inside the building where they live in Al Riffa.
“He then came and told me and my brother that he can play hide-and-seek with us, and when my brother hid, he dragged me to the staircase and touched me then kissed me, so I slapped him and walked away, then he followed me and told me he would kill me if I told anyone about what happened,” said the girl.
She returned home and sat crying in her room, the court heard.
“I heard her crying so I went to her room and asked her what happened. She told me she had been molested,” said her 40-year-old accountant father.
He said that his daughter’s neck was bitten by the defendant. The father called police who arrived and apprehended the man.
A medical report confirmed that a bruise on the left side of her neck was consistent with her story.
A verdict is expected on November 28.
salamir@thenational.ae