UAE | Crime
Couple face trial for abusing adopted girl
A father and a mother have pleaded innocent against molesting their seven-year-old adopted girl and filming the abuse, heard a court on Thursday.
- By Bassam Za'za', Senior Reporter
- Published: 15:51 February 28, 2008
Dubai: A father and a mother have pleaded innocent against molesting their seven-year-old adopted girl and filming the abuse, heard a court on Thursday.
Records said the Emirati couple bought the girl from her biological mother, whose pregnancy resulted from an illegitimate affair, in 2001 before registering her as their daughter after issuing a forged birth certificate.
According to the Public Prosecution's Bill of Impeachment, the 53-year-old father has been charged with undressing and molesting the girl while his 46-year-old Emirati wife was charged with aiding and abetting her husband by filming the abuse.
"I am a God-fearing Muslim and a haji ... I brought her up the best possible way. And there is no way on earth I could have done such a thing," said the father who strongly refuted his charges before Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday.
Just like her husband, the 46-year-old wife denied aiding and abetting the man when she filmed him abusing the girl.
Sold at birth for Dh15,000
The couple's lawyer Eisa Bin Haidar, of Bin Haidar Group Advocates and Legal Consultants, asked the court to bring in the team of forensic experts who examined the girl following the alleged abuse to give their statements.
Bin Haidar also claimed bail for the father whose wife is out on bail.
The Emirati couple, the girl's Iranian biological mother and a 30-year-old Emirati housewife were all charged with forging the girl's birth certificate and submitting it to a government hospital for the Emirati suspects to claim that they were the real parents.
Records said the housewife mediated between the couple and the four-month pregnant biological mother, who agreed to sell the girl for Dh15,000.
The suspects denied their charges before Presiding Judge Abdul Majid Al Nezamy, on Thursday. The biological mother failed to appear in court.
Police learnt about the incident after the seven-year-old broke the news first to a friend of the family.
"I once asked him to stop ... but he threatened to beat me if I told anyone," testified the victim.
She said the 53-year-old removed her clothes and abused her a number of times while the woman filmed what he did on a camera and a mobile. She claimed that they used to put bad movies and have sex in front of her. The court will reconvene soon.
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