DUBAI // A driver molested his employer's 7-year-old son more than 15 times in one month, a court heard today.
MH, 30, from Pakistan, was employed to drive the British child between to and from school. Prosecutors told the Criminal Court that he repeatedly took advantage of his job by putting his hand inside the boy's trousers and touching him inappropriately.
The driver denied this, claiming he had touched the boy only once, as a joke.
"When I was driving him once he told me he had a girlfriend so I laughed and as a joke touched his groin, that's all," said the driver.
But the boy said the driver had touched him on repeated occasions. He said he asked the driver to stop, but was ignored.
Another worker in the household, PT, 32, from India, noticed the boy's behaviour change during May - about the time of the alleged abuse.
"He became reluctant to take showers and his mood was always bad," she recalled.
The woman said that on May 25 she saw the boy siting on the toilet and that he appeared upset.
"I started joking with him and tickled his belly but he asked me not to do that again because the driver did it to him all the time," she said.
The boy then told her the driver had touched him sexually.
"He told me that one time he moved to the back seat to stop the driver from touching him," she added.
She reported the matter to police.
At the Criminal Court the driver denied a charge of forceful sexual assault.
A verdict is expected on July 7.
salamir@thenational.ae