'Jumeirah Groper' gets six months in prison

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

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

On December 20, S S was charged at the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance with sexual assault, trespassing and illegal consumption of alcohol, before Judge Fahmy Mounir Fahmy.

Prosecution records show that S S broke into the home of a British family at night and sexually abused a personal assistant as she slept by her husband. Dubai Police said the man crept in through an open window.

According to the woman’s statement to prosecutors, she said she felt someone touching her and she woke up.

“It was 4am and I felt a hand on my bottom as I was sleeping. I thought it was my 12-year-old son, but when I looked up, I saw the profile of a man in the shadows exiting the room,” she said.

“I woke my husband up and he thought that it was our son sleepwalking,” she added. “When I checked his room, he was sound asleep”.

Prosecutors told the court S S confessed to trespassing and illegal consumption of alcohol. He will be referred to the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours on the alcohol charge.

According to Dubai Police, the suspect, who was picked up on a traffic stop, is believed to be behind another assault, also. In the second incident, also in Jumeirah, he is accused of attacking a 35-year-old Asian woman inside her home in the same manner.

salamir@thenational.ae