Dubai: Prosecutors on Sunday will seek capital punishment for an Emirati father and his girlfriend charged with torturing the man’s 8-year-old daughter Wudeema to death.
Dubai Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan has given the go-ahead to Chief Prosecutor Shehab Ahmad, of Family and Juveniles Prosecution, to present closing arguments before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Sunday, a prosecution source told Gulf News.
“The Public Prosecution will ask for the implementation of the death sentence against 29-year-old Hamad S. and his accomplice 27-year-old Al Onoud A., a source in the public prosecution said.
Prosecutors charged the defendants with illegally confining Wudeema and her seven-year-old sister Meera. They are also accused of using extensive force, torturing the sisters and burning their bodies with an iron and electric prods. They also poured hot water on them. “They tortured the girls physically and emotionally. They also inflicted 10 per cent permanent disability on Meera,” the source said.
The chief prosecutor and defence lawyers are scheduled to present their closing arguments before presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi.
The accused father Hamad and Al Onoud have pleaded not guilty. They claim they did not intend to kill Wudeema. Hamad said he didn’t treat his daughter Meera badly and that he took her to hospital when she sustained an injury to her arm and shoulder.
Al Onoud had earlier asked the court to sentence her to death. “Hamad has got nothing to do with what happened. I did it all by myself,” she told the court.
The Misdemeanor Court jailed the couple for one year each for having consensual sex that resulted in the birth of a boy. Al Onoud carries the child with her whenever she attends proceedings.
Al Humaidan told the media earlier that prosecutors asked for the implementation of the Penal Code’s Article 344.
“The article stipulates that a suspect could face capital punishment or life imprisonment if he/she locks up a victim against his/her will and the confinement leads to the victim’s death,” the attorney general said.
