Dubai: People were shocked over the news about the horrific death of an eight-year-old girl who police say was tortured, killed and dumped headless in a hole in the UAE-Oman border by her father.
“This is inhuman, the man should be chopped into little pieces,” said a woman on the social networking site, Twitter.
The suspect had taken custody of the girl from his ex-wife six months ago after his release from prison.
A psychologist said that if the father was found guilty, he may be a psychopath who had no remorse.
Commenting on the heinous crime, Dr Dolly Habbal, consultant psychologist at the Gulf Diagnostic Centre told Gulf News the kind of personality that carried out such a crime feared no consequences.
Nothing would stop such a person from doing anything including killing their daughter in the way it was alleged by the police.
The Emirati suspect is now in police custody.
Police said the man’s partner was also arrested for her alleged failure to report the abuse.
The WAM news agency quoted Lieutenant-General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, chief of Dubai Police, as saying that the police found the girl’s remains within 48 hours of her being reported missing.
The suspect divorced his wife and had taken custody of his two daughters after he was released from prison six months ago.
His brother alleged that one day he went to the suspect’s flat and heard screams from inside.
When he forced his way in he found his seven-year-old niece bruised and battered, he claimed.
The girl told her uncle that her sister was burnt with a flat iron and her father had taken her somewhere, the brother alleged.
She said her father made them drink their own urine and faeces and would burn her sister with a flat iron and lit cigarettes, he said.
The suspect’s brother informed the police which led to the man's arrest.
The suspect is said to have admitted to the crime and told the police where the daughter was buried.
Draft child abuse law
Dubai last month approved a draft law to protect children against all forms of abuse and exploitation. The law was drafted by the Community Development Authority (CDA).
It was approved by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council.
The draft law offers protection to Emirati and expatriate children under the age of 18.
Khalid Al Kamda, Director-General of the CDA, noted that UAE is a signatory to the the International Convention on Children’s Rights.
But sociologists said there is no clear legislation on what was to be done if a child was found abused by the parents.
They said that residents had called that it should be made obligatory to report suspected abuse cases and standardise procedures
The sociologists said there were no social workers attached to public schools and if there were, they did not have adequate training to deal with the situation.
The Child Protection Law is yet to be enacted into law.
