A businessman has admitted sexually assaulting a teenage shop assistant as he inspected an adult toy in a Dundee shop.
Muath Momani, who runs two companies in Jordan and regularly travels backwards and forwards between his home country and Dundee where he lives with his student girlfriend, admitted the charge at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Momani, 45, of Bellfield Street, pleaded guilty to an amended charge that on June 4 last year at a shop in Dundee, he sexually assaulted the teenager by seizing her hand and holding it against his groin and uttered sexually inappropriate remarks.
Fiscal depute Joanne Smith told the court Momani arrived in the shop around 1.45pm on June 4 and went to a specific area of the shop.
The employee followed him to monitor his actions as there had been previous thefts from that part of the shop, the fiscal said.
She said he selected a sex toy and, while discussing it, he carried out the sexual assault.
The fiscal said: “The complainer was shocked, she pulled her hand away and made her way forward to the front of the shop.
“The accused then replaced the item on the shelf and made his way from the shop and was lost to view.
“Police were called and the shop’s CCTV showed the incident, albeit the accused had his back to the camera.”
She said following a public appeal via local media and social media, Momani was traced by police.
His counsel, advocate Clare Connelly, told the court Momani was visiting his wife, who is a PhD student in Dundee.
She said he is a self-employed dental technician in Jordan and owns and runs two laboratories there.
She said: “He is the sole breadwinner for the family, his wife being the recipient of a scholarship which allows her to attend university in Dundee.
“He has no previous convictions.”
Sheriff Tom Hughes deferred sentence until April 25 and ordered social work reports, a Tay Project assessment and a restriction of liberty assessment.
He also placed him on the sex offenders register in the interim and continued his bail.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.