Abu Dhabi: An Indian janitor in his 50s is appealing the death penalty handed to him for raping a seven-year-old girl at the school where he was formerly employed.

The defendant was found guilty by the Criminal Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeals last year. However, the Court of Cassation reverted the case back to the Appeals Court for further examination.

The Emirati victim had reportedly returned home after school one day upset and withdrawn. Her aunt detected a foul smell on her body. When the girl was undressed for her daily bath, a sticky substance merged with blood was found.

The plaintiff’s lawyer argued that the teacher had sent the girl to the principal to deliver some papers as a form of punishment for something that the child had done earlier that day.

The incident reportedly occurred in the school’s kitchen which witnesses revealed has a glass door that only allows individuals standing right outside to see inside the room.

A DNA test could not be conducted as substances that may have linked the victim to her attacker were washed away during the girl’s bath.

Therefore, the defence lawyer argued that with no such evidence, his client could not be indicted. A representative from the Public Prosecution asked whether there was any blood evidence found on the kitchen floor to which the plaintiff’s attorney replied: “No, because the defendant cleans the floor on a daily basis and the police only arrived to the scene at 11pm on the day of the incident.”

However, the defence team asked how the incident could have happened with such a large number of individuals inside the school during the afternoon, especially since the kitchen faces the parents’ waiting room.

The defence told the court that the girl’s testimony was constantly changing after the results of every test, indicating that she was being told what to say in court.

A medical examiner revealed that this was not the first time the victim had been raped. The plaintiff argued that the girl was so shaken up by the assault that she was unable to see the whiteboard, prompting the teacher to write a note in the girl’s school diary asking her parents to take her to an optometrist.

However, the defence said that as a female and a mother, the teacher would have noticed more visible effects of the assault than poor sight and so the plaintiff’s argument was irrelevant.

He also stated that the school’s janitors were all questioned out of unsubstantiated suspicion and his client was picked as a scapegoat for the incident whose real perpetrator is not caught yet.

The verdict will be announced on February 25.