Viral story: Revealed video shows harasser luring girl into Maadi building

CAIRO – 9 March 2021: A surveillance camera on street revealed Tuesday footage showing Maadi harasser luring a young girl into a residential building, before sexually harassing her inside.

Heated discussions and angry posts have been circulating on social media in Egypt since Monday, after a video shown a man harassing a young girl inside a building before he was caught by a lady.

The man appeared to have lured the girl into the building, thinking it was empty, and on the first floor, he called her to come and committed his crime near the stairs. He was caught on a cctv camera installed by a laboratory on the same floor. A lady shortly came out of the laboratory moving towards the man who denied her accusations, and left the building quickly.

Police forces managed to arrest the man few hours after the incident went viral on social media.

Investigations revealed that the girl was selling tissues in the streets when the man came to her, and convinced her to follow him into the building.  

What happened?

Revealed on Monday, the incident took place inside a residential building in Maadi district. A video captured by a surveillance camera installed on the first floor of a residential building showed the man smiling and calling out on the girl to come to him, and then he took her near the stairs, where he committed his crime. The harasser was caught by a surveillance camera touching the young girl’s body and trying to carry her, but the girl ran away. A door suddenly opened, and a lady showed up after she saw the harasser on the camera.

The video showed the harasser trying to deny the accusation, while the lady was pointing to the camera as a proof his crime was recorded. The man then left away, but the camera captured his face clearly. Some social media users circulated an account on Facebook saying it belongs to the harasser. 

For her part, Dr. Maya Morsy, the head of the National Council for Women, praised the lady’s brave stance in revealing the harassment incident.

“Thanks for the rapid move of the public prosecution, the police, the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and the Cabinet’s office for complaints…and we are closely following up on the incident on social media platforms,” Dr. Morsy said in a statement.

She further added “it is clear that this harasser is used to commit such crime.. but he is now exposed, the girl is rescued and the state will move to get the right of this girl and other children whom he might have abused.”

She also assured that the Penal Code stipulates in Articles 268 and 269 that whoever commits indecent assault against a person by force, threat or attempts to do so, shall be punished with hard labor imprisonment, and in case the victim is below the age of 18 years old, the violator will be punished by hard labor imprisonment for a period not less than seven years.  

Some social media posts referred to the harasser’s social status as a married husband and having kids, calling to stop sharing his leaked video. However, these calls instigated anger comments by many users who refused to give an excuse for the harasser, and reiterated their calls to hold him accountable for his crime.