Dubai: A lawyer will quiz a forensic doctor in court to unveil the main causes of the death of a four-year-old boy, who was raped and murdered last November.
The Dubai Court of Appeal on Sunday agreed to summon the forensic doctor to give his statement following a request placed by advocate Abdul Rahman Al Mudharreb, who is defending the 30-year-old Emirati convict on death row for raping and killing the Pakistani boy.
"Your honour, the forensic doctor who examined the victim's body did not mention the main causes of death in his report. We ask the court to summon him so we could quiz him and unveil the cause of death. As part of our defence, our goal is not to acquit the convict, R.R., but we are seeking to reduce the death sentence. I have agreed to defend R.R. because this is my job. The court and public prosecution assigned me to defend him, and that's what I am doing," advocate Al Mudharreb told Presiding Judge Eisa Al Sharif on Sunday.
For the first time since the trial started, R.R. contended [through Al Mudharreb] that there was no full penetration during the incident. "Your honour, when I met with R.R., he asked me to reveal the following. He did not intend to kill the boy. He did not bang his head on the floor. He did not sit on his back [as mentioned in the charge sheet] but he sat on his knees. And most importantly he strongly contended that there was no full or partial penetration. Biologically speaking, a full penetration is impossible between an adult and a four-year-old boy," Al Mudharreb told the court.
Adjournment
Presiding Judge Al Sharif adjourned the case until March 14 for R.R. to submit the written defence and summon the forensic doctor for his statement.
The lawyer complained before the three-judge panel that R.R.'s family has been uncooperative and out of reach. "I have been trying to contact his family because I need to know something about his background and the way he was brought up and raised. The family has been difficult and unhelpful in that regard… that's very crucial for my defence because the committee of psychologists [who examined him] decided that he is sane and responsible for his behaviour. How can a sane person commit such behaviour? What would urge him to do so or act like this?" argued Al Mudharreb.
Al Mudharreb told reporters, who surrounded him outside the courtroom after the hearing: "We requested the court to have a social worker or a new psychiatric specialist to examine R.R. and see what urges a sane person to commit such behaviour. We are not seeking his innocence but we want to reduce his punishment."
