Abu Dhabi: Lack of supervision of private school pupils was one of the major factors leading to the alleged rape of a seven-year-old student by a janitor which took place on the school’s premises earlier this year, the family’s lawyer told a court.

The trial continued on Sunday at the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance. According to the plaintiff’s lawyers, the incident allegedly occurred when the pupil was sent by her class teacher to deliver documents to an administration office, unsupervised.

“Seeing that the girl was by herself during a time when all the teachers and students were in their respective classes, the defendant grabbed the victim by her arm and pulled her to the school’s kitchen where he proceeded to rape her,” said the family’s lawyer, Hussain Al Jaziri, in his closing statement.

“This kind of unorthodox task, which is usually handled by the school’s employees, is the direct cause of the incident,” he added.

On returning home that day, the pupil seemed withdrawn and refused to take off her underwear for her daily bath, her lawyer said.

On further investigation, the girl’s aunt found traces of blood and DNA on her underwear.

“It was then that the girl revealed what had taken place earlier that day, adding that the accused had threatened to kill her and her mother if she told anyone about the incident,” Al Jaziri told the courtroom.

The evidence found on the victim’s body showing she had been involved in an assault has been confirmed by the court’s medical examiner. However, defence lawyers claimed that vital blood and DNA tests which could directly link the defendant to the crime have not been conducted.

Colonel Dr Rashid Mohammad Borshid, director of the CID, said that a form filled out by the Social Support Centre in Abu Dhabi highlighted that the degree of molestation of the girl’s body was 70 per cent, Gulf News previously reported.

Major General Nasser Lakhrebani Al Nuaimi, Secretary-General of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, urged school officials to increase supervision of their students to prevent such incidents from occurring.

The verdict will be announced on July 29.