Dubai: A Jordanian man will face the firing squad for kidnaping, raping and killing an eight-year-old boy in May 2016, Dubai's top court affirmed on Monday.
Nidal Eisa Abdullah, 48, was convicted by lower courts on charges of kidnap-rape-slay of eight-year-old Obaida Sedqi, also a Jordanian, from his father’s auto repair shop in Sharjah on May 20 last year.
The Cassation Court presiding judge, Abdul Aziz Abdullah Al Zarouni, rejected Abdullah’s final appeal after he asked the highest court to overturn his death sentence and push the case back to the Appeal Court for a fresh trial.
The court approved Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Sharif’s closing appeal to uphold the capital punishment since presiding judge Al Zarouni and his bench of four judges confirmed the appellate ruling.
The Cassation Court’s senior secretary Jamil Mahdi registered the irrevocable punishment — Cassation ruling — in the minutes of the hearing which the convict did not attend.
In January, the Dubai Appeal Court confirmed the death sentence against Abdullah.
The Court of First Instance had earlier pronounced Abdullah guilty and handed him a capital punishment.
Presiding judge Al Zarouni and his four deputy judges unanimously confirmed the capital punishment on the convict.
Abdullah will be executed once the punishment is approved by the Ruler.
Dubai’s Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan will now forward a copy of the Cassation Court’s verdict sheet to the Rulers Office for final approval.
The judgement will be carried out once the Ruler gives his consent.
Psychiatric evaluation
A committee of psychoanalysts had examined the killer’s sanity and their psychiatric evaluation confirmed that the convict suffers from an “antisocial personality disorder with alcohol dependence”.
The convict’s court-appointed lawyer defended before the cassation court: “The medical report confirmed that my client suffers from an antisocial personality disorder with alcohol dependence. The report was not very clear and inconclusive.
“It also lacked details that justify or explain why he suffers that disorder and why is he considered a danger to the society.
“The report just said that he is an antisocial person … It also lacked certain psychological and neurological tests, and had those tests been carried out, they would have given a clearer picture of the defendant’s mental state.”
Defending the law
“I am defending the law and not the crime," said Abdullah's lawyer.
"I am complementing the court’s role in ensuring that the law enforcement procedures are carried out properly. The appellate court should have approved our demand to have the defendant be re-examined.
"The defence team had asked the Appeal Court to resend Abdullah for a second psychiatric evaluation to decide whether he suffers from a certain mental illness that makes him temporarily irresponsible for his actions and behaviours — and particularly at the time when he committed the crime,” contended the lawyer.
He had asked presiding judge Al Zarouni to overturn the appellate judgement and refer the case to a new panel of appeal judges to look into it again.
However, the Cassation Court’s five-judge bench rejected the lawyer’s request.
Abdullah had earlier denied kidnapping and raping the victim but pleaded guilty to murdering the victim.
He will also have to pay Dh21,000 in temporary compensation to the boy’s family.
Records said the accused lured the boy to his car by offering to buy him a scooter and then he drove to Al Mamzar area in Dubai.
There, he moved the victim to the back seat and had forced sex with him. He assaulted the boy before he strangled him with a red gotra when the victim tried to defend himself.
