DUBAI // A salesman will spend a year in jail followed by deportation for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl last year, a court ruled this morning.
FM, a 26-year-old Indian, denied the charges last month, telling the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance he merely touched the girl's cheek in a fatherly manner.
Prosecutors said he sexually assaulted the girl, kissing her on her cheek, neck and groin while holding her firmly around the waist.
The victim's mother, PR, 37, testified that her daughter was playing in the corridor in her building in Al Nahda Area 1 about 6.30pm in March 2010. She said she left her apartment door open so her daughter could come and go as she pleased.
PR said FM rang her doorbell, told her he was from Etisalat and asked her about her subscription. Five minutes after he left, she said, her daughter entered the apartment and told her, "I will never play in the corridor again."
When she asked why, the child told her FM met her by the stairs, and when she moved closer, he pulled her into the stairwell, closed the door and abused her.
According to prosecutors, FM confessed to grabbing the child by the shoulders and kissing her against her will three times on the cheek and one time on the neck.
"What happened was a misunderstanding by the claimant, your honour," FM said, adding that the incident was the result of a previous dispute he had with the victim's family.
salamir@thenational.ae
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
