Cabbie acquitted in passenger molestation case

The Dubai Criminal Appeal Court acquitted an Egyptian taxi driver who was convicted three months in jail followed by deportation for molesting a British passenger.

On November 19, 2009, Christi, 37, took a taxi with her friend and both sat in the back seat, according to the prosecution sheet.

The driver, THA, 40, dropped first her friend to Media Rotana Hotel where she was staying and then she asked him to drop her to Dubai Marina after moving from the back to the front seat. While, she was checking her mobile phone, the driver took her to the Palm instead, Christi testified before the prosecution.

Enquiring with him, he told her not to worry and at an isolated area, he stopped the car and attempted to kiss her while touching her body, but she resisted and could get out of the car and took another taxi and took the number plate of the accused’s car, she said.

The other taxi driver Abdullah Khan testified before the prosecution that he noticed the passenger looked worried and tried to hide when the first taxi driver was followed them. The accused told Khan that the passenger did not pay him the taxi fare was the reason why he was chasing them and then left.

In the case’s first hearing on April 27, the accused denied the accusation but the court found him guilty and awarded him 3 months jail and deportation.

THA appealed the sentence and his defence lawyer Kawthat Hussain Hassan told the court that the drunken plaintiff has made up the story vindictively.

The court reviewed the video recordings and did not see the car driven by the accused entering the Palm so he received an acquittal from the molestation charge.

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