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A New Zealand businessman has been arrested in Dubai after a fellow woman passenger on a plane claimed he groped her.
The 39-year-old New Zealand man, identified only by the initials "JW", pleaded innocent before the Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday to charges of putting his hand between the legs of a sleeping British woman chef and placing her hand near his private parts on a plane over the Indian Ocean.
The Gulf News newspaper reported the New Zealander, who was a transit passenger, had been charged by Dubai's Public Prosecutor with molestation.
The woman said in a statement to the court that two hours after takeoff from Singapore, she suddenly woke up when she felt the man's hand between her legs.
The woman told the public prosecutor she was wearing shorts and shirt on the flight and had fallen asleep after being in the air for a couple of hours.
When she awoke she said she found the accused touching her breasts and running his hand up her thigh. She also alleged that he had moved her hand so it was touching his groin.
"I stood up immediately, began to yell and he started apologising to me," she said.
The alleged victim then ran down the aisle of the plane before falling to the floor crying and air stewards rushed to help her.
When the plane landed in Dubai for a stopover the woman went straight to the police station at the airport and filed a complaint.
"He even asked me to give him another chance while I was going to the police station," she was reported as saying.
The Gulf News reported on its website that the New Zealander told the public prosecutor the woman "accidentally turned over and bumped into me while sleeping".
"I tried to carefully remove my arm and body, but she woke up startled and accused me of touching her. I didn't intend to touch her, besides I apologised to her," he said.
The businessman, who was on his way to London, asked the court for a quick verdict, because he was only in Dubai on transit.
- NZPA
