Abu Dhabi: The Pakistani accused in the brutal rape and murder of 11-year-old boy, Azan, in June, has denied all charges in an Abu Dhabi court on Tuesday.
The accused, M.A, appeared at the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court and said, “I have been beaten and pressured by the police and public prosecution to accept these charges. But I didn’t commit any crime of sodomising and using a rope to strangulate the child.”
The presiding judge questioned the accused regarding his confession to raping the child and strangling him with a rope.
The accused replied, “I was pressured to sign documents and confess to the crime. But I didn’t do this.”
The accused told the court, “How I can sign documents when I am illiterate? I don’t know how to read and write.”
The judge told the man that his confession to the public prosecution was recorded but the accused insisted on his innocence.
The boy’s Russian mother, step mother, father and grandfather attended Tuesday's trial.
The Public Prosecution is demanding for the death penalty and wants the Pakistani man convicted on all charges.
The Public Prosecution had earlier described it as a "most heinous crime by a relative" that has shocked the UAE community.
