DUBAI // A maintenance worker who molested an 11-year-old girl while working at her family’s apartment was yesterday sentenced to six months in prison.
D L, 52, from India, was at the flat in Al Qusais when the girl noticed him looking at her “in a weird way”.
Prosecutors said he grabbed her and groped her before trying to drag her into another apartment, but she resisted and he was forced to let go.
The Criminal Court heard that the attack took place on June 1 this year at about 4pm, shortly after the girl walked into the kitchen to find something to eat.
“I noticed he was looking at me from my head down to my feet in a weird way and following my footsteps around the kitchen,” recalled the girl.
Feeling uncomfortable she left the kitchen and went outside into the building’s corridor to meet a friend.
“I was with my friend when the man came and started pulling my cheek then asked me to come into an empty apartment with him,” said the girl.
He hugged her then touched her in a sexual way before trying to force her into the empty apartment, she said.
She resisted fiercely and he was forced to let her go.
The maintenance worker denied a charge of molestation, saying he was an old man and would not do such a thing. He be deported after serving his jail term.
salamir@thenational.ae
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