DUBAI, December 10 2011: A defence lawyer told the Court of First Instance on Thursday that his client did not mean to sexually harass an Egyptian woman in the lift but accidentally touched her.Saeed Al Guilani, representing a 36-year-old Indian engineer accused of molesting an Egyptian housewife in the lift, argued that his client had just emerged from the Gym and felt suddenly dizzy so he grabbed the housewife who happened to be next to him. According to prosecution records, the 44-year-old Egyptian housewife saw the defendant in the lift about 8.30pm that day. He was already in the lift and she was accompanied by her sister-in-law and her two daughters. She alleged that the accused got very close to her and groped her instead of walking out in the first floor where he stayed. She shouted at him ‘are you crazy’ before her sister-in-law moved her away from him. Al Guilani told the court that if his client’s intention was to molest a woman, he could have chosen the youngest and most beautiful one of the women in the lift. The two women walked out and the housewife came back again to get her daughters out of the defendant’s way by pushing him away. The housewife alleged that the accused torn the shirt of one of her daughters after grabbing her. Panicked, the women screamed for help. One of the residents in the building helped them track the accused in the lobby. The police was called. The housewife’s daughter, a 14-year-old student, and sister-in-law confirmed her statement during the investigation. An Emirati policeman said that he reached the scene in a building in Umm Hurair 2 in the evening that day. He described the accused as looking very normal when he arrested him. The cop said the accused kept on apologising to the housewife and claimed what he did was unintentional. The accused was taken to the Raffa police station.
