Manager in dock for kissing female guest

dubai — An exposition manager has gone on trial at the Dubai Court of First Instance on a charge of sexually harassing a guest.

The 58-year-old American citizen is accused of grabbing the Arab woman’s face and kissing her on the lips while she was alone at the exhibition he ran.

The manager, who is of Arab origin, confessed during investigation that he kissed the woman.

The incident took place on March 26 and a complaint was registered at Bur Dubai police station.

The complainant, whose age was not cited in the public prosecution records, said she visited the photography expo and was in a hurry as she was due to meet her mother and sister-in-law.

“He kept talking for about 20 minutes and I could not find a way out of our conversation.”

She was caught off guard when he suddenly grabbed her face and kissed her, she claimed. She added that she felt very upset and did not tell her mother, who was travelling the next day, about the

They told me to lodge a complaint against him because they knew how he was like and that he did the same to another woman earlier.” Complainant

matter, while she had still a presentation in Abu Dhabi. She tried to get advice from her friends about what she should do.

“They told me to lodge a complaint against him because they knew how he was like and that he did the same to another woman earlier. That woman opted to keep quiet about the incident,” the complainant said.

When she sent messages to the manager on WhatsApp to try and get a justification for his behaviour, he replied that he liked the kiss and would do it again. She blocked his calls after telling him that he would pay for what he did.

That conversation was used as a public prosecution evidence. The trial was adjourned to June 4.

mary@khaleejtimes.com