Teacher on trial for sending indecent pictures on Snapchat to girl student in Dubai
- 26 May 2021
Sohaila Ahmed, Staff Reporter
Dubai Police have arrested a British teacher after one of his students accused him of sending indecent pictures to her.
The 39-year-old electronic design teacher was arrested at Dubai International Airport on Jan.7 this year.
The teacher had used his SnapChat account to send an explicit selfie of himself posing nearly naked to a teenage girl.
Prosecutors also said he allegedly threatened to defame the teen if she didn’t withdraw a police report she filed against him.
During prosecution and police questioning, he denied both charges and said his ex-pupil had often tried to seduce him.
“She was my pupil for eight years and last year she only taught me how to use SnapChat and added herself to my contacts,” he told investigators.
“After doing so, she often sent me images of herself in revealing clothes.”
He said he was surprised that after graduating from school she lodged a complaint against him.
However, the student, 19, said in her complaint that her teacher insisted they connect on SnapChat for a whole year when she was still a pupil at the Dubai school and said he added her to his contacts.
“I was afraid to compliant because he was my teacher and I feared he would lower my grades,” said the girl to investigators.
“After I left school I told its administration and lodged the police report,” she added.
His defence argued a lack of evidence.
“No deleted messages were found on his devices according to the criminal laboratory report,” Emirati lawyer Awatif Mohammed argued at the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours.
“While my client handed his devices for examination, the girl refused to give her mobile phone to the police to be checked,” Ms Awatif told judges.
She said it’s possible the girl had sent herself the image after she accessed her teacher’s account while showing him how to use the app.
“I request my client be acquitted,” she said in court.
A verdict is expected to be passed on May 30.