Obaida murder case takes a new turn

Dubai - In the hearing on Sunday, 48-year-old Abdullah, requested the judge bench to be allowed to speak to his defence lawyer claiming he was not allowed to use the phone in prison. He requested that his lawyer calls him.

The presiding judge of the Court of Appeals adjourned on Sunday the trial of Jordanian Nidal Eissa Abdullah, convicted of kidnapping and murder of 8-year-old Obaida, to December 18, as his mental evaluation report was not yet released from a local hospital.
Background: Missing Sharjah boy found dead in Dubai
The judge urged the public prosecution to follow up on the report until the next hearing.
In the hearing on Sunday, 48-year-old Abdullah, requested the judge bench to be allowed to speak to his defence lawyer claiming he was not allowed to use the phone in prison. He requested that his lawyer calls him.
Call for severe punishment: Family of murdered boy calls for death penalty
Advocate Ali Musabbeh, who was recently assigned by the appellate court to represent the convict, earlier requested that his client be referred to hospital to examine his mental sanity and assess how responsible and aware of his actions he was at the time he committed the crime.
Abdullah earlier admitted to charges of murder and consuming of alcohol.
Revealed: Obaida's murder: Accused admits to murder, sexual assault charges
He denied, however, charges of sexually assaulting the victim, Obaida, also from Jordan, and kidnapping him from outside his parents' house in Sharjah.
In August, a bench of the Dubai Court of First Instance unanimously sentenced Abdullah to death after convicting him of sexually assaulting and killing the child.
Read on: Obaida resisted his killer as much as he could
The case dates back to May 20 when the child was reported missing from outside his parents' house and his body was found two days later on the side of a road in Al Warqa.
mary@khaleejtimes.com