A lifeguard and a worker will be jailed for six months each for molesting a student with learning difficulties in a swimming pool washroom.
The Dubai Court of First Instance found the 35-year-old Filipino lifeguard, J.J., and the 21-year-old Pakistani worker, Z.J., guilty of abusing the woman.
The two accused had earlier accused each other of molesting the woman in the building’s washroom near the swimming pool before police arrested them both for molestation.
“The two accused will be deported after serving their jail terms,” said Presiding Judge Al Saeed Mohammad Barghout upon pronouncing yesterday’s judgment.
The two defendants were on bail. Z.J. was absent yesterday. Meanwhile J.J. was immediately taken into custody after the verdict was pronounced.
Prosecution records said J.J. and Z.J. exploited the women’s lack of awareness and groped her private parts.
Blamed
Prosecutors said each of the defendants molested the 26-year-old woman individually.
The woman’s mother testified that when police came to the building each of the defendants blamed the other for molesting her daughter.
“My girl took her dog for a walk⦠five minutes after her return, the doorbell rang. A watchman claimed that J.J. told him that he saw Z.J. molesting my daughter and tried to have sex with her. Immediately I reported it to the police. When police came, the defendants pointed fingers at each other and exchanged accusations. My girl said Z.J. groped her breast and private parts,” the mother claimed.
The girl claimed to prosecutors that the incident happened when she entered the washroom.
“J.J. walked behind me and kissed me first⦠then he touched my body indecently for five minutes. He told me things that I didn’t understand and left. Then while I was using the sink, Z.J. came and asked to do with me the same thing that I did with J.J. He grabbed me strongly and groped my breast⦠then I prevented him from kissing me. I went back to the flat and didn’t inform anyone about what happened,” the student claimed to prosecutors.
Crying
Court records said a Bangladeshi witness spotted Z.J. holding the woman who was crying and frightened.
An American psychiatrist testified that the girl was 26 “but her mental age is eight to ten and suffers a mental challenge.”
He said she did not have the mental capability to “arouse someone sexually.”
Yesterday’s judgment remains subject to appeal within 15 days.
J.J. walked behind me and kissed me first⦠He told me things that I didn’t understand and left. Then while I was using the sink, Z.J. came and asked to do with me the same thing that I did with J.J.”
