• Home
• /
• UAE
• /
• Crime

Teacher in Dubai accused of harassing 17-year-old

Dubai - The student said that the teacher approached her after the teaching session and started an irrelevant conversation.

A 26-year-old teacher faced a molestation charge in the Court of First Instance for allegedly touching and kissing a student against her will.
According to prosecution records, the Lebanese teacher took advantage that he was alone with the Canadian student, 17, in the classroom to touch her abdomen and back and kiss her on her cheek.
The incident allegedly happened on October 10.
The student said that the teacher approached her after the teaching session and started an irrelevant conversation.
"He told me that I was like his sister and showed me pictures on his mobile phone of students he took on his birthday."
He asked to take a photo with her and then surprised her by kissing her on her cheek and touching her abdomen and back.
He allegedly touched her again as she was signing the attendance book. She left the classroom annoyed and informed the supervisor the following day.
A Canadian businessman, a family friend of the student, said she had recounted about the teacher harassing her. "She was crying. I asked the director of the school to bring the teacher's phone to prove the incident but the latter did not want that."
He added that the director told him that they sacked the teacher the morning after the incident.
The family friend also reported the incident to the police.
The student's mother, 36, said in the investigation that her daughter came back home on that day quiet which was unusual of her. "The next morning as I was dropping her to school she asked me how I would react in an inappropriate situation. Later, a friend told me that a teacher had harassed her as in the classroom."
The teacher claimed in the interrogation that he touched the student while he was joking with her. He also claimed that he took her picture by mistake.
The teacher's smart phone was seized as evidence and many pictures of female students were found stored in it. The court adjourned the hearing to December 20.
- mary@khaleejtimes.com