Dubai: A lawyer is seeking to get his client, on death row for raping and killing a four-year-old boy, a reduced sentence or a psychological evaluation by a court-assigned committee of medical experts.
Advocate Abdullah Al Mudharreb, defending 30-year-old Emirati convict, R.R., on death row for raping and killing the Pakistani boy, asked the Dubai Appeals Court on Sunday to replace his client's death sentence with a life sentence (25 years in jail according to UAE Penal Code).
Personal account
"According to article 98 of the Federal Penal Code, we ask the court to reduce R.R.'s death sentence to a life imprisonment. Otherwise, we ask the court to assign a committee of psychologists and sociologists from the Emirates Psychologists Association to examine R.R.'s mental, social, financial and educational conditions. When I met him in prison, he strongly dismissed any intention to kill the boy. He alleged that he did not beat him on his head and argued that he gagged him to stop him from crying and shouting," Al Mudharreb argued in defence of R.R. before Presiding Judge Eisa Al Sharif.
Earlier this year, the Dubai Court of First Instance handed R.R. a death sentence after he was convicted of raping and killing the Pakistani boy, Mousa, in the washroom of a mosque on first day of Eid Al Adha last November.
He was also sentenced to six months in jail for consuming liquor.
During Sunday's hearing in courtroom 20, Al Mudharreb contended that a sane person could not commit such a crime. "He went through difficult life conditions. His mother died early, he dropped school at an early age, started working and got addicted to liquor and a mind-affecting substance. A sane and responsible person does not commit the crimes he committed… ultimately he requires social and psychological care more than he needs to be punished," defended the lawyer.
Following the hearing, Al Mudharreb told reporters outside the courtroom: "Out of respect and obligation to help in the implementation of law, we accepted to defend R.R. as we got assigned by Dubai Courts and Public Prosecution. The case triggered unprecedented media coverage and became a ‘public opinion case' and I hope this does not influence the course of justice."
Presiding Judge Al Sharif will issue his judgement on April 11.
Watch video of Mousa's father's reaction to the trial:
