Dubai: An Emirati man pleaded guilty against raping and killing a 4-year-old Pakistani boy in a mosque's washroom, when he appeared before Dubai Appeals Court on Sunday.
"I am guilty, but I didn’t intend to kill him… Yes, I raped him," the 30-year-old suspect, R.R., who is on death row, said when Presiding Judge Eisa Al Sharif leveled his charges against him.
When asked by the judge if he has a lawyer to defend him, R.R., in his white prison dress, replied in a calm voice: "No your honor… I don't have one."
R.R. was given a death sentence by the Dubai Court of First Instance last month after he was convicted of raping and murdering 4-year-old Mousa.
"The court adjourns until February 14 to assign a lawyer to defend the suspect," said Presiding Judge Al Sharif.
R.R. had appealed the primary judgment last week and is seeking leniency.
Dubai Public Prosecution also appealed the same sentence seeking the Appeal Court to uphold the death punishment.
Chief Prosecutor Yousuf Foulaz asked the three-member jury of the Court of First Instance to hand down the toughest punishment applicable — the death penalty for R.R.
Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir Fahmi and his two deputies, judges Dr Ali Al Galadari and Mansour Al Awadhi, sentenced R.R. to death after serving six months in jail for consuming liquor.
Psychiatric experts testified that although R.R. is a paedophile obsessed with boys he is stable and sane.
According to the UAE law, in case the Appeals Court upholds a death sentence, the public prosecution automatically appeals it before Dubai's highest court, the Court of Cassation.
