Jail term upheld for visitor who raped 8-year-old girl

Dubai: A Pakistani visitor has lost his appeal battle in court, after the Dubai Appeals Court confirmed his 15-year jail term for kidnapping and raping an eight-year-old schoolgirl.

The Appeals Court's Presiding Judge Mustafa Al Shennawi upheld the primary judgment, 15 years in jail, against 21-year-old Pakistani, M.R., who was convicted of kidnapping a Bangladeshi schoolgirl and threatening to chop her body into pieces if she told anyone that he had raped her.

M.R. appealed against the primary judgment, seeking to reduce his imprisonment and sought leniency.

"The court has rejected the appeal and upheld the primary verdict," said Presiding Judge Al Shennawi upon pronouncing the appeal verdict in courtroom 20. M.R. will be deported following the completion of his jail term.

Prosecutors accused M.R. of kidnapping the schoolgirl and raping her even as she clutched the Quran.

Tortured

"Police electrocuted me and pressured me to confess that I kidnapped the girl and raped her. I have obvious torture signs on my back. I am not guilty. The girl is the one who asked me to give her a lift," argued M.R. when he defended himself in court.

According to the charge sheet, M.R. lured the girl into his car while she waited with her friends in front of a Quran learning centre. The accused lured the girl into joining him after promising to pay her Dh10 and claiming that he wanted to buy juice to distribute to the rest of the students.

Prosecutors charged him with raping the terrified girl who cried and held on to the Quran. He was also arraigned with threatening to kill her and chopping her body into pieces if she cried and did not comply with his demands.

"My friends and I were waiting in front of the centre… he came and offered to buy us juice. He drove off, then stopped in a building's parking lot and moved back to the rear seat where I was. He slapped me when I refused to undress. He threatened me and then abused me… I cried and begged him to leave me," claimed eight-year-old N.K.

Identified

Records said M.R. dropped her in front of the centre later and she walked back home. Her friends informed her father that N.K. had been kidnapped. The father and the police searched for her.

Two policemen testified that primary interrogations led to the arrest of M.R., who N.K. identified in a police lineup.

The judgment remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days.