DUBAI 23 April 2017: An Iranian man allegedly molested a 9-year-old girl in a lift by pretending to teach her house riding, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.
On February 18 at around 6.30pm, the girl, who was at her residence building’s playground at Dubai Marina, decided to go up to her house at the 90th floor.
“A man got into the lift with me. I pressed the 90th button and he pressed the 60th button. He asked me if I knew horse riding. I told him no… he offered to teach and train me… he asked me to hold the steel bar in the lift and to bend over. As I did that he touched my lower back with his body several time. I got very scared and as the lift stopped I rushed out of it while he was saying that he will wait for me to get back,” the little girl told investigators.
The girl rushed into her house seeming very scared and worried.
“I asked her why she was scared and why her heart was beating so fast. She told me what happened in the lift and how a man taught her horse riding and touched her with his body,” said the 41-year-old Syrian mother HI.
The mother went down with her daughter to the fifth floor to the building’s playground. The girl pointed at the man who was standing there.
“I approached him and asked him what he is doing there… as he did not answer I asked him what he did with my daughter. He denied doing anything to her and claimed that he taught her an exercise in the lift and apologised if anything happened,” said the mother who informed the building’s security and the police.
Police arrived and arrested MM, 39, Iranian businessman.
The accused claimed that he had only asked the girl if she know horse riding and showed her pushing exercise.
“She wanted to do the same exercise that I did in front of her in the lift. I moved back to give her a space… her body touched mine accidentally,” he claimed.
When asked why he did not get out of the lift when stopped at the 60th floor, the accused had no answer.
Camera footage showed the girl and the accused standing in front of the lift and seemed that they were in a conversation.
The court will reconvene on May 21.
By Lolyana Zaki