Justice served in Obaida murder case
KILLER EXECUTED AFTER EIGHT-YEAR-OLD BOY’S FAMILY REJECTS PLEA FOR PARDON
A fter enduring a nightmarish ordeal for 18 months, the family of Obaida Ebrahim Al Sedqi Al Aqrabawi, the eight-year-old Jordanian boy from Sharjah who was raped and murdered on May 20, 2016, found solace in the news of the execution of their son’s killer.
Nidal Eisa Abdullah, 50, of Jordanian nationality, was executed yesterday for the kidnap, rape and killing of Obaida after the boy’s father refused to pardon him.
Obaida’s father, Ebrahim Al Sedqi Al Aqrabawi, said, “Before the execution, the killer asked [our family] to pardon him but we refused. Did he show any mercy to our little son when he begged to be freed so he could return to us? Why should we then pardon him?”
Dubai’s Attorney-General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan announced yesterday that Nidal Eisa Abdullah, convicted of the kidnap, rape and murder of an eight-year old boy, has been executed in Dubai after the Cassation Court rejected his appeal and upheld his death sentence.
The death sentence was approved by 11 judges through its stages — three of the First Instance Court, three of the Appeals Court and five of the Cassation Court. Following the Ruler’s endorsement, a special firing squad carried out the death sentence against the convict in the presence of Dubai’s AttorneyGeneral, senior police officers, a mufti and the victim’s father and two uncles in Al Ruwaya area.
I am shedding tears of consolation. It’s the least punishment [the killer] deserved. Now the soul of my son will rest in peace.” Obaida’s mother Zeinab, talking to Gulf News
May 20, 2016: Eightyear-old Jordanian boy Obaida Sedqi is reported missing from his home in Sharjah.
May 22: Dubai Police find the body of Obaida in Al Warqa’a area in Dubai. A 50-year-old Jordanian suspect, Nidal Eisa Abdullah, is arrested.
May 24: Accused admits to kidnapping boy, trying to rape him and killing him.
May 25: Dubai Police appoint officer to assist Obaida’s family.
June 1: Advocate Obaid Al Mazimi assigned to represent Obaida’s family. June 15: Prosecutors seek death penalty. June 20: Accused pleads guilty and admits to raping and strangling Obaida in the back seat of his car. July 11: Court appoints advocate Omran Darwish to defend the accused.
August 8: Accused tells the court that he tried to kill himself. He claims that he does not remember what happened on May 20 [the day of the incident]. August 15: Dubai Court of First Instance
hands out death sentence to Nidal Eisa Abdullah. September 25: The death row convict denies kidnapping and raping the boy in the Appeals Court but pleads guilty to murdering the victim. October 9: Courtappointed advocate asks to be excused from defending the accused.
October 23: Dubai Appeals Court refers Abdullah to be examined by a special panel of psychiatrists to evaluate his mental condition.
December 22: Convict was aware of his actions when he committed the crime, a psychiatric evaluation report reveals. January 22, 2017:
Dubai Appeals Court upholds capital punishment for Obaida’s killer.
February 27: Abdullah loses final appeal
November 23: Abdullah is executed.