Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeals has upheld the death sentence for an Indian janitor who was found guilty of raping a seven-year-old girl at a private school in the capital.

The victim’s family’s request for Dh5 million in compensation for the physical, mental and social damage suffered by them due to the incident was referred to the Civil Court for ruling.

This is the second time that this ruling has been upheld by the Court of Appeals after the verdict was issued by the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance last year.

The Emirati victim came home from school one day seeming withdrawn. Once her aunt took her for her daily bath, she saw traces of semen and blood on the inside of her trousers. Any DNA evidence linking the perpetrator to the crime was washed away during the bath.

Additionally, the 56 year-old defendant had told prosecutors during his confession that he was in love with the girl and had been watching her for years. He later appealed the death sentence citing that his testimony took place after authorities forced him into doing so.

During the first appeals hearing, the defence told the court that the girl’s story kept changing after the result of every test conducted, indicating that her statements were being dictated to her by somebody else.

The medical examiner also reported that this incident was not the first time that the girl had been raped. The plaintiff argued that had the girl’s teacher not sent her to the principal’s office to deliver some papers as a form of punishment, the victim would not have come into intimate contact with the defendant during class hours.

“This kind of unorthodox task, which is usually handled by the school’s employees, is the direct cause of the incident,” the lawyer earlier said.

The defence team also stated that following the incident, the school’s janitors were all rounded up for questioning despite the lack of substantiated evidence pointing in their direction and that their client was picked as a scapegoat while the real perpetrator remains free.

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) stated that this is the first rape case to result in a death sentence in the capital’s courts. This is because those under the age of 14 cannot be considered accomplices in sexual crimes conducted against them by adults, and are believed to be incapable of having free will, according to the law.

Court documents also state that the defendant was given the maximum sentence due to the victim’s young age.