A nanny found guilty of sexually assaulting an autistic boy in her care has been cleared - after an appeal court found evidence used to convict her was not 'credible'.
The 22-year-old Filipino was handed a three-year jail term by Dubai Criminal Court - to be followed by deportation - after being convicted of the sexual assault of the eight-year-old son of her sponsor.
The testimony of an Ethiopian maid in the household, who alleged the defendant has undressed in front of the child and asked him to touch her, was key to her being charged.
Dubai's Court of Appeal, however, has now concluded there was not sufficient evidence and overturned the verdict.
The maid had told prosecutors that the abuse had taken place on occasions when the boy's mother was away from the family home in the Al Qusais area.
The allegations came to light when the maid made her abuse claims to the child's mother.
The mother had noticed a change in behaviour of her son after the nanny had been sacked due to unrelated matters.
The nanny was arrested and subsequently denied sexually abusing the boy but was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.
At the Appeals court, the nanny was acquitted for lack of substantial evidence.
“The court revised the documents of the case and its circumstances and came to the conclusion that the charge was based solely on the testimony of the Ethiopian maid, which the court does not find credible,” the appeal court stated.
