May 20, 2016: Eight-year-old Jordanian boy Obaida Sedqi is reported missing from his home in Sharjah.
May 22: Dubai Police find Obaida’s body under a tree in Dubai’s Al Warqa’a area. A 49-year-old Jordanian suspect. Nidal Eisa Abdullah, a customer of the boy’s father, is arrested on suspicion of attempting to sexually assault the boy and strangling him. Police say the suspect had suggested helping locate the boy when Obaida’s parents were searching for him.
May 23: Obaida is buried in Sharjah. His family seeks the death penalty for the accused.
May 24: The accused admits to the preliminary charges of kidnapping the boy, trying to rape him and then killing him.
May 25: Dubai Police appoint an officer to provide legal and social assistance to Obaida’s family. The officer is tasked with providing the family legal, psychological and social support through all stages of the case. A delegation of senior Dubai Police officers visit the family’s home in Sharjah.
May 29: His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, offers condolences to Obaida’s family during a visit to the mourning tent in Sharjah.
June 1: The Sharjah Consultative Council assigns advocate Obaid Al Mazimi to represent Obaida’s family in the case.
June 15: Prosecutors led by Attorney-General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan seek the death sentence for the accused.
June 20: The accused pleads guilty and admits to raping and strangling Obaida in the back seat of his car.
June 27: A judge orders that the accused be forced to attend the trial after he refuses to appear for a court hearing.
July 11: The court appoints advocate Omran Darwish to defend the accused.
August 1: The chief prosecutor in the Obaida case describes the accused as “a monster”.
August 8: The accused tells the court that he tried to kill himself. He claims that he does not remember what happened on May 20 (the day of the incident).
August 15: In a unanimous decision, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentences Nidal Eisa Abdullah to death after finding him guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering Obaida.
— Compiled by Gulf News Archives
