Dubai: A Bangladeshi man has been jailed for 15 years after a court convicted him of raping a four-year-old boy while teaching him how to memorise the Quran.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the defendant, 24-year-old H.M., although he pleaded not guilty and denied the accusations.

Prosecutors asked the court to implement the death sentence against H.M. as per Article 354 of the Penal Code.

The boy’s father testified that the incident happened two months after he agreed to the defendant teaching his son the Quran along with the neighbour’s son.

“The accused will be deported following the completion of his punishment,” said the presiding judge in courtroom three on Tuesday.

Records said the incident happened in a villa shared by four families in Al Hamriya.

“I agreed with H.M. to give my son Quran lessons once I learnt that he was teaching our neighbour’s son. He gave our children Quran lessons at the kitchen table after Maghrib prayer except over the weekend. I was in Bur Dubai when my wife told me over the phone that our son had been abused. She claimed that my son told her that the defendant exposed himself and did something bad to him. I rushed home and my son told me the same thing. My four-year-old said H.M. did something bad to him at the beginning of the lesson… then the defendant cleaned himself up and continued the lesson. My son claimed that when he asked the defendant to stop because what he did to him was painful… H.M. asked my son to keep silent. Our neighbour’s son confirmed that he saw the incident and described what happened,” claimed the father.

Records said the father and his brother-in-law lured the defendant to Abu Hail. The defendant tried to run away when he saw the boy’s father. Records said the father and his brother-in-law took H.M. in their car to their residence and called the police.

Meanwhile H.M. repeatedly apologised to the father and asked for forgiveness.

A Yemeni policeman claimed that the defendant was scared and apologised alleging that he was seduced by the devil.

Tuesday’s judgement remains subject to appeal within 15 days.