DUBAI // A police officer sexually molested a 14-year-old boy near Deira City Centre, a court heard this morning.
The Dubai Police Corporal AS, 26, was charged with assaulting the British boy on October 31. He denied the charges.
According to the boy's testimony, he had gone to a cyber cafe at the Zeena building beside Deira City Centre to play network games with two friends.
The boy told prosecutors that a man wearing Emirati national dress and a black cap called them over and identified himself as a CID officer.
"He asked me to go to the toilets in the building so I can be searched," the boy testified.
Records show that AS asked the boy to undress for a strip search, then molested him.
"I immediately dressed and ran out of the toilet, where he followed me and told me to return," the boy said.
AS ordered him back to the toilets, telling him he should obey because AS was a CID investigator. Once again, he was ordered to strip.
"He told me to face the wall and undress, and he started inappropriately touching me. I turned around and found him exposing himself," the boy told prosecutors.
The boy pushed AS back, and the officer released him and asked him not to inform anyone about what happened, records show.
A 14-year-old Jordanian witness told prosecutors he saw the British boy with his friend after the incident, and they told him what happened.
"I was also approached by AS and taken to the toilet, as he told me he was a narcotics officer and he wanted to search me for drugs," the Jordanian boy said. "I escaped after he tried to pull my pants down."
A 36-year-old Filipina working at the cyber cafe told prosecutors that she regularly saw AS with children.
The court adjourned the hearing until next month.
amustafa@thenational.ae
