Suspect was driven by fear when he disposed of Obaida’s body

Dubai: A man, accused of kidnapping, raping and killing an eight-year-old boy, was driven by fear when he decided to dump his body under a ghaf tree, a police officer testified in court on Monday.

The 49-year-old Jordanian man, Nidal Eisa Abdullah, admitted before the Dubai Court of First Instance in a previous hearing that he had raped and murdered the Jordanian boy, Obaida Sedqi, but denied the charge of kidnapping the boy, who willingly sat with him in the car as always in May.

Listening to the last prosecution witness in the Obaida case, presiding judge Urfan Omar heard the statement of the Dubai police major, who said: “We apprehended the suspect at his brother’s house. During questioning, he said he knew the father. He admitted that he had been consuming liquor when he helped the father clean his garage with diesel. When Obaida came to the garage, according to the suspect’s statement, he promised to buy him a scooter. Later he picked up the boy without the father’s knowledge. Abdullah admitted that after he raped and killed Obaida, he felt scared of being exposed by the police … while driving around, he decided to get rid of his body on Dubai Academic City Road.”

The court-appointed lawyer, Omran Darwish, cross-examined the prosecution witness.

Obaid Al Mazmi, the lawyer of the victim’s family, told the court: “This is the fourth case of its kind in our society. According to the Penal Law, the convicts in such cases are executed in the Central Jail. Such convicts have to be executed in public for others to learn…”

“This is a procedural matter, kindly limit your argument to the claim in civil right,” said presiding judge Omar as he intercepted Al Mazmi’s argument.

“The court reconvenes on August 8 to hear the defence lawyer’s closing argument,” said the presiding judge.