Appeals court upholds death sentence in Obaida murder case

The Dubai Appeals Court on Sunday upheld a capital punishment against Nidal Eisa Abdullah, who kidnapped, raped and killed eight-year-old Jordanian boy Obaida Sedqi.

A crowd present in the court shouted ‘Allah take your soul’ after announcement of the verdict by the Dubai Appeal Court’s presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif

At 10,35am in the courtroom 20, the judge announced that the Jordanian convict, Abdullah will be executed for kidnapping and murdering the eight-year-old Jordanian boy on May 20, 2016. The boy was abducted from his father’s garage in Sharjah before he was raped and killed in Al Mamzar, Dubai.

Sunday’s ruling remains subject to automatic appeal before Cassation Court within 30 days.

The judge read out 15 rulings before he called on jail wardens to bring in to the courtroom Abdullah, who was shackled, to listen to the judgement

“The court has dismissed the convict’s appeal and unanimously upheld the death sentence against him. Due to jurisdictional purposes, he will be referred to the Dubai Misdemeanours Court to be tried for charges number four and five [drinking alcohol and driving under the influence of alcohol],” said presiding judge Al Sharif.

When he entered his plea before the appellate court, the convict denied kidnapping and raping the eight-year-old boy but pleaded guilty to murdering him.

Instantly after the judgement was read out, the Jordanian convict stood puzzled for a few minutes and stared towards the family and friends of the victim. Surrounded by six jail wardens inside the dock, Abdullah also looked at the people present in the court who were shouting: “congratulations for your death ... May you die soon … Allah take your soul”.

In August, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the convict to death for kidnapping, raping and killing the boy while he was drunk.

Prosecutors appealed the primary judgement and asked the appellate court to uphold the death sentence against Abdullah, who appealed and sought a reduced punishment.

In the previous hearing, Abdullah’s court appointed lawyer argued that his client’s psychiatric evaluation showed that the convict suffers an ‘anti-social personality disorder with alcohol dependence’.

The lawyer asked the court to hand his client a reduced punishment.

The lawyer of Obaida’s family, Obaid Al Mazmi, was present at the Appeal Court on Sunday.

Al Mazmi had earlier lodged a civil lawsuit in which he is seeking Dh21,000 in temporary compensation against his clients’ emotional and moral damages.

The psychiatrists’ panel that was tasked by the appellate court to conduct a psychiatric evaluation for Abdullah examined him between November 15 and 20.

The convict’s psychiatric evaluation to decide whether he was aware of his actions when he committed the crime, found that he was fully responsible for his behaviours and aware of his actions.

The defendant was examined clinically by psychiatrists, according to the report, and the results showed that he is a cognitive person and capable of understanding and realising and has full insight of what he does.

Earlier this month, the Dubai Public Prosecution’s twitter handle quoted the Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan as saying that he would not rest until the capital punishment is carried out against Abdullah.

Records said Abdullah kidnapped Obaida on May 20 from his father’s garage in Sharjah and then raped and murdered him.

Abdullah admitted before the primary court that he raped and murdered Obaida but denied kidnapping the victim, who he said had willingly sat with him in the car. He also admitted that he drank liquor and drove his vehicle under influence of alcohol.

The last time the father saw Obaida alive was in Abdullah’s car at 5pm shortly before the latter decided to kidnap and rape the eight-year-old, said records,

The defendant lured the boy to his car by offering to buy him a scooter, according to court records, and then he drove to Al Mamzar where he committed the crime

source : gulfnews