DUBAI // A man accused of sexual assault was “deceived by the devil” into believing the woman welcomed his advances, a court heard yesterday.
When the woman made it clear she was not interested in him, he started sending text messages telling her he couldn’t control himself in front of her “shiny eyes” and that the way she walked could “make a stone talk and show its feelings”.
Prosecutors told the Criminal Court that A A, 33, met the woman, an events planner, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on May 9 this year when the pair were working on a reception he was hosting.
The pair met several times throughout the day and at about 5.30pm the man asked the event planner to go with him to the main hall.
“After walking out of the hall, he hugged me and tried to kiss me,” recalled the woman, who rebuffed his advances, saying she was there to work.
She said he then started sending her the text messages.
In court, the man denied a charge of forceful sexual assault.
His lawyer asked to cross examine the event planner in court.
The case was adjourned to September 30.
salamir@thenational.ae
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
The biog
DOB: March 13, 1987
Place of birth: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but lived in Virginia in the US and raised in Lebanon
School: ACS in Lebanon
University: BSA in Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut
MSA in Design Entrepreneurship at the School of Visual Arts in New York City
Nationality: Lebanese
Status: Single
Favourite thing to do: I really enjoy cycling, I was a participant in Cycling for Gaza for the second time this year
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A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
