Brit faces 15 years in Dubai jail for 'pinching woman's bum'
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A British man is facing up to 15 years in jail for pinching a woman's bum in a Dubai jail - a charge that he strongly denies.
Steven Sheriff, 43, says he was mistaken for the "groper" after a 23-year-old claimed someone squeezed her buttock and slipped their hand between her legs at a bar in February.
The woman told her boyfriend who, believing the bottom-pincher to be Mr Sheriff, punched him and knocked him out.
Both of the men were arrested, and later withdrew complaints against each other. But police in the strict Muslim country charged Steven with being drunk and sexual assault, as well as charging the boyfriend with being drunk.
Steven, who is married and is originally from Belfast, told The Sun: "My lawyer says I will get three to 15 years if convicted. But I never touched her."
He admitted being drunk but added: "I'd never do a thing like that no matter how drunk I was."
He is due in court on 5 June 2012.
The news comes just after Rebecca Black, a 27-year-old recruitment consultant, was accused of having sex in the back of a Dubai taxi with Irishman Conor McRedmond.
Ms Black maintains that she was alone in the cab and was arrested for having alcohol in the taxi, not on suspicion of public indecency.
According to the report in The Sun, Ms Black was held in custody for five days before being bailed out by company manager Rowley Rees Brown, a friend who also lives in Dubai.
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Avoid getting into trouble abroad and discover some of the weird laws around the world:
Strange laws around the globe
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