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Fisherman Admits Raping and Killing Boy in Mosque
DUBAI - The fisherman, who was sentenced to death after he was convicted of raping and killing a four-year-old boy in a mosque on the first day of Eid-Al Adha last year, appeared in the Court of Appeal on Sunday.
- PUBLISHED: Mon 8 Feb 2010, 10:36 PM UPDATED: Tue 17 Sept 2024, 12:48 PM
He pleaded guilty to killing the little boy and having forced sex with him, but said he did not intend to kill him when Presiding Judge Eissa Al Sharif read the charges against him on Sunday.
The next hearing is scheduled for February 14.
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The Court of First Instance handed out the 30-year-old Emirati fisherman with capital punishment on January 27. He was also sent to jail for six months on the charge of consuming alcohol.
The sentencing in the case came a month into the trial on the charges of intentional murder associated with forced sodomy of the Pakistani boy.
The preliminary verdict was read by Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir Fahmi, who gave it by consensus with member judges Ali Galadari and Mansour Al Awadi, to a crowded chamber with a tightened security. The verdict was greeted with tears of relief from the victim's father who waited patiently with his other son in the court.
It was clear the court panel would not grant clemency in any way to the defendant, who did not show any mercy on the child and took away his life in cold blood without any consideration to his young age and vulnerability. With the judge members' consensus the court sentenced the defendant to death for murder associated with forced sodomy and to six months in prison for consuming liquor, Judge Mounir read.
The defendant was charged with killing Moussa Moukhtiar Ahmed by gagging his nose and mouth, squeezing his neck and sitting on his back. He then hit the victim's head to the floor twice, killing him.
The court dismissed premeditated murder as the “defendant did not plan the murder in advance”.
Earlier, the head of the psychological Medicine Section at Rashid Hospital, Mohammed Hassan, told the court that their examination of the defendant showed that he was mentally stable but with a pathological paedophiliac urge to have sex with little boys.
Chief Prosecutor Youssef Foulaz deemed the verdict fair for an unjust person who committed a horrendous crime.
Defence lawyer Mohammed Al Saadi earlier argued that the defendant had a harsh childhood highlighted by the absence of his biological mother. “He was beaten, tortured, humiliated and neglected by his father and stepmother,” Al Saadi said maintaining that his client should have been placed under police surveillance since he had a long criminal record.
The case dates back to the first day of Eid Al Adha last year when the fisherman lured Moussa with a promise of an Eid gift to the washroom of a mosque in Qusais. There, he sexually assaulted the boy as he covered his mouth and nose with his hands. He then killed him by hitting his head on the floor and fled the scene.
The defendant had a criminal record and had been convicted of forced sodomy, rape and theft.
Even though the Public Prosecution's plea for maximum punishment was fulfilled, the death sentence verdict was automatically appealed by the prosecution.
“It is a sensitive case involving the life or death of a human being. The appeal is a guarantee for the defendant's fundamental rights,” said a judicial source.
The accused is to be executed in Dubai by a firing squad. No such executions have taken place for over five years.
mary@khaleejtimes.com