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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - A lawyer, who is defending a man charged with raping and killing an eight-year-old boy, on Monday renewed his request for secret hearings to ensure his client a fair and just trial.

The 49-year-old Jordanian suspect, Nidal Eisa Abdullah, had pleaded guilty in an earlier hearing before the Dubai Court of First Instance, admitting that he raped and murdered the Jordanian boy, Obaida Sedqi, but denied kidnapping the boy, who willingly sat with him in the car “like he usually did” in May.

On Monday, the court-appointed lawyer, Omran Darwish, provided presiding judge Urfan Omar a written plea requesting the trial be held behind closed doors to ensure that his client undergoes an impartial trial.

The lawyer told the court that his client is being influenced by the presence of policemen and other detainees.

Darwish also sought the court’s permission to communicate with Dubai Police’s General Department of Punitive and Correctional Establishments and the Human Rights Section concerning the treatment of Abdullah in detention and during the trials.

Presiding judge Omar then ordered the court’s secretary, Essam Ali Mohammad, to record Darwish’s plea in the minutes of the hearing in compliance with the Criminal Procedures Law of the UAE.

He then accepted the lawyer’s written request [for a secret trial] and clubbed it in the case file.

During an hour-long hearing on Monday, the three-judge bench heard the statements of a police lieutenant and Dubai Police’s forensic examiner who examined Obaida’s body.

The lieutenant testified in court how he accompanied the defendant to Dubai Academic City Road and examined the location [the ghaf trees] where the boy’s body was found on May 22.

“I was stationed near the suspect’s house waiting for him to arrive so we could apprehend him. My superior informed me over the phone that he had been arrested at 4pm. I headed to the police headquarters and, during questioning, the suspect admitted that he had taken the boy from his father’s garage … he claimed that he drove to Al Mamzar where he raped him in his car’s back seat. Then when the boy said he would tell his father what had happened [that he had been raped], according to the suspect’s confession, he decided to kill him. He claimed that he strangled him first with his hands … but when he noticed that the boy was still breathing, he wrapped a gutra around his neck and strangled him. At the time when the father and the uncle were searching the suspect’s flat and, according to the latter’s statement, Obaida’s body was still in the car,” the lieutenant told the court.

Meanwhile, presiding judge Omar and advocate Darwish cross-examined the forensic examiner in the courtroom that was crowded.

“When I first examined the body near the trees, it had bruises and injuries around the neck and the arms. A certain part of the boy’s cheekbone had started to decompose. The tree’s stems probably caused the scratches that he had on his arms. Strangulation was the main cause of death … the clinical and physical examination confirmed that he had been raped. Certain bodily injuries and bruises that he had indicates that he had tried to defend himself,” testified the examiner.

During the hearing, the boy’s father was repeatedly heard mumbling several words. Once or twice he could be heard saying [God damn you] while looking towards the suspect.

The presiding judge was also seen once staring firmly at the father while a court policeman was spotted asking the father to maintain discipline.

Towards the end of the hearing and when the suspect addressed the court saying: “Your Honour, may I ask the court a question?” the father was heard mumbling, unclearly again.

Thereafter, presiding judge Omar dismissed him from the court.

Then he permitted Darwish to approach his client and speak with him.

“It is your legal right to visit your client, sit down with him and discuss all the matters and concerns that he wants to argue about with the court. We are here to confirm that all law enforcement procedures are implemented properly,” said the judge.

The court reconvenes on August 1 to hear the last prosecution witness.

*Gulf News