Dubai: "My child has finally got justice. The justice he deserved," father of Mousa, the four-year-old schoolboy who was raped and murdered in a mosque on Eid Al Adha two years ago, told Gulf News.
"We are really happy and relieved that justice has been served."
The tearful father, Mukhtiar Ahmad Khuda Buksh, was speaking shortly after the execution of the 31-year-old Emirati, Rashid Al Rashidi, following his conviction for the brutal killing.
The Pakistani family of four — Mousa's parents and siblings Mustafa and Mariam — have been under tremendous stress in the two years since learning about the brutal incident to holding themselves up through the trials.
"But the authorities including the police and the judiciary have been utmost supportive and understanding," the father said.
"I am just a poor man. But the fact that I got justice and in such a fast manner is laudable," he said repeatedly thanking the officials.
"The way we got justice here, probably we wouldn't have got even in my own country."
Also the compassion with which we were treated by people here, he added.
Earlier, he used to work in a private company as a driver. Recently he was offered a job with Dubai Police and now works for them. "Every day I have been going to the same mosque for prayer five times a day. Now my prayers have been heard."
The family said that they would never have accepted blood money to deter capital punishment. "When I die and I meet my son in heaven, how could I face him if I did?"
His wife has been struggling hard to cope with the loss of her son, he said, calling on all parents to never let their children out of sight.
Thankful to people
Sitting beside her husband, Mousa's mother Jamala Khatoun said she wished to thank all those who helped them. "My prayers are with you all."
On November 27, 2009, the first day of Eid Al Adha, little Mousa was dressed up in his new clothes and was playing with his friends in front of a mosque in his neighbourhood in Al Qusais.
The culprit, Al Rashidi, was drunk at the time and attacked Mousa inside the washroom of the mosque after luring him there. He testified in court that he had no intention to kill the child but gagged him to stop him from crying and screaming. Al Rashidi was a boat captain. He had a previous record of sexual violence and was sentenced to prison for a year.
The mosque's imam, Jamal, said he noticed nothing unusual on that day, but when he headed to the mosque for afternoon prayer, men at the mosque told him there was a boy lying unconscious in the toilet. He said they immediately called the police.
Mousa's father said that the last interaction he had with his son was just ten minutes before his body was being taken in an ambulance from the mosque. "He had kissed me and wished me ‘Eid Mubarak' and I had kissed him back and wished him ‘Eid Mubarak'. How can I forget those moments. I left him playing with his cousins and headed towards the mosque for prayers and as I was doing wudhu [ablution] I heard some men shouting that a child has been injured and were seen running towards the gates of the mosque where an ambulance was waiting."
Mousa's siblings Mustafa and Mariam, were seven years and 14 months respectively back then. When Gulf News visited their home yesterday, Mariam was walking around with pictures of Mousa and showing them to Mustafa, who had just returned from school. Two years ago Mustafa fell ill after hearing his brother's fate and said that he is terrified to step out of the house.
The case attracted unprecedented media and public interest. The death sentence was issued after psychiatric experts testified at the trial that the culprit was of a stable and sane mind although he was a paedophile obsessed with boys.
