Dubai: A lawyer defending the suspect in the rape-murder of a four-year-old Pakistani boy has asked a court not to hold a speedy trial just to please the public opinion.
"No doubt this is a very gruesome crime which influenced the society… everyone of us has been affected with this incident which also influenced the public.
"Fathers and mothers have started fearing of their children being subject to the same crime… I have been assigned by the Dubai Court of First Instance to assist, firstly, in the implementation of justice, and, secondly, to defend the 30-year-old Emirati suspect, R.R.
"He has been charged with the premeditated killing associated with the rape of the boy and he may face a death punishment… my main duty is to defend the suspect faithfully, honestly and consciously. Today I am asking the jury not to hold a swift trial just to please or satisfy the public.
"My client, who pleaded guilty and is detained , has the right to get a fair trial, like any other suspect," R.R.'s lawyer Mohammad Al Sa'adi told Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir on Sunday.
Addressing the jury at courtroom four, Chief Prosecutor Yousuf Foulaz asked the jury to implement the toughest punishment applicable, death sentence, against the suspect.
Prosecutors charged R.R. with preplanning the premeditated murder and rape incident of the Pakistani boy, M.M.
The suspect earlier confessed to the charge of raping the boy and admitted that he beat him and banged his head twice on the floor of a mosque's washroom after smothering him without the intention to kill him.
During Sunday's hearing, Al Sa'adi walked towards his client, who stood leg-shackled inside the dock, and informed him that the three-psychiatrist committee, who examined him, decided that he is mentally stable.
"The medical committee reported that he was mentally stable and aware of his behaviour and actions at the time of the incident.
Concluded
"The committee also concluded that my client still has a bizarre desire to have sex with children if he had the opportunity to do so. How can this be true? Only God knows if that conclusion is true or not. I ask the court to bring the committee's chairman to hear his statement and discuss his findings," argued Al Sa'adi.
The judge adjourned the case until January 13 to hear the statements of the three members of the committee which examined the defendant's mental power at Rashid Hospital.
Four-year-old M.M was found dead in the toilet of a mosque in Al Qusais on November 27, the first day of Eid Al Adha.
In the hearing on December 30, the court referred R.R. to Rashid Hospital to undergo psychiatric evaluation.
"His mother died soon after he was born. His father brought him from Bahrain to the UAE and soon married an Indian woman. He had three children with her. His stepmother tortured him. She destroyed his life.
"The father and stepmother would beat him. It is because of this torture that he bears a grudge towards his step brothers because he felt discriminated against. The accused seems to suffer from paranoia. I ask the court to refer him for mental tests," Al Sa'adi defended earlier.
There was tight security and people were checked before they were allowed to enter the courtroom on Sunday.
