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The Abu Dhabi Appeal Court on Tuesday upheld an earlier verdict by the Criminal Court of First Instance which handed the death sentence to the 33-year-old man after he was found guilty of murder, rape and a number of other charges. The court also ordered the killer to pay Dh200,000 in blood money to the child's family.
"The defendant has been found guilty of all the charges against him and the court has upheld the ruling and sentences by the Criminal Court of First Instance," said the Abu Dhabi Appeal Court judge while issuing the ruling.
The Pakistani boy - identified as Azan Majid - was found missing on June 1, 2017, after he went to a nearby mosque to pray. His body was found the next day on the rooftop of the building on the Muroor Road where he was staying with his father and stepmother.
The court records stated that the boy was sexually abused and strangled to death with a rope by the Pakistani national, who is also related to the child.
Police revealed that the man cross-dressed to carry out the attacks on the child, after luring the boy into going with him to the rooftop of the building.
The Abu Dhabi Public Prosecution had charged the Pakistani with premeditated murder, raping the child, cross-dressing and driving a car without a number plate.
The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance in November last year found the Pakistani man guilty on all counts and he was sentenced the death penalty.
The man, however, challenged the ruling denying the charges and stressing that he was wrongly convicted.
During a recent appeal court hearing, he pleaded not guilty.
The lawyer representing him also told court that the man was innocent and that prosecutors had not presented sufficient evidence to convict his client.
The appeal court judge, however, rejected the claims and maintained the first ruling based on evidence presented by the prosecutors.
The boy's parents, including his Pakistani father and Russian mother, refused to take blood money from the defendant when the appeal court consulted them and insisted on the death penalty for the killer.
The Pakistani man can still go on to challenge the execution sentence in the Court of Cassation. ismail@khaleejtimes.com
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