Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance awarded death sentence to the man who raped and murdered an 11-year-old Pakistani boy on his building’s rooftop in May. The court has also ordered an exemplary blood money payment of Dh200,000 to the family which has undergone an extreme trauma.
The accused, who was termed by the Public Prosecution as “a wild beast”, is identified as Mohsen Bilal, 34, from Pakistan. He also happens to be the uncle of the boy.
The Presiding Judge of the Criminal Court, Aktham Abdul Mounem in his final judgement pronounced, “Mohsen Bilal was found guilty on accounts of his crimes of raping and killing and the court awards him the death penalty and a blood money [payment] of Dh200,000.”
“The accused was found guilty on all accounts — of wearing an abaya [to disguise his identity], driving a car without a number plate and raping and strangling the boy with a rope,” the judge said.
The boy’s father, a Pakistani, and mother, a Russian, were both present in court.
Three different panels of judges agreed on the execution and compensation judgement, the presiding judge told the court on Monday.
The boy, Azan Majid Janjua, went missing in May after he left his house to go to the mosque for Asr prayers. Witnesses said they saw him leave the mosque but the boy never reached home. His body was discovered next morning on the rooftop of the building where he and his family lived by AC technicians who had gone to the area to attend to a malfunctioning unit.
“His body was half-naked and a copy of Quran was lying beside him,” Dr Janjua had told the police.
The mother, who used to visit her son in Abu Dhabi, was in the city when the tragedy occurred.
On August 8, the first trial of the case began at the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court where the accused denied all charges of raping and killing the boy. As the case progressed, the defence lawyer appointed by the court claimed that his client was mentally and psychologically unfit at the time of the crime. But medical examination reports presented at the court proved him to be mentally and psychologically fit.
The accused blamed the Public Prosecution of fabricating evidences against him, but CCTV footage and forensic evidence proved his involvement in the crime.
Azan was Dr Janjua’s first son born to his first wife whom he met while studying medicine in Russia. As they did not live together for a while, Azan, who was also a Russian national, lived with his mother in Russia.
As part of a mutual agreement between his parents, Azan started living with his father around two-and-a-half years ago.
