Obaida killer’s death upheld
dubai — Jordanian national Nidal Eissa Abdullah will now face death by firing squad for kidnapping, raping and killing eight-year-old Obaida in May 2016.
The judicial hearings in the case came to an end on Monday with Dubai’s highest court upholding the death sentence given by two lower courts. With the verdict being confirmed by the Court of Cassation, it is now irrevocable.
The family and relatives of the young victim, also from Jordan, were awaiting the final verdict in their home in Sharjah, and upon hearing the news they said they were grateful “justice has been served”.
“We have been waiting for this sentence all along,” the boy’s father said.
In an earlier hearing, Ali Musabeh, who was representing the defendant, argued for leniency towards his client on the grounds that he was showing regret over what he did, but it was rejected.
dubai — The judicial hearings in the case against 49-year-old Jordanian Nidal Eissa Abdullah for killing and sexually assaulting an eight-year-old boy came to an end on Monday with Dubai’s highest court upholding the death sentence given by two lower courts.
With the verdict being confirmed by the Court of Cassation, it is now irrevocable.
The family and relatives of the victim, Obaida, also from Jordan, were awaiting the final verdict in their home in Sharjah. As soon as they heard the death penalty was upheld, the family could not find words to express their satisfaction and relief.
“We are grateful that justice has been served. We have been waiting for this sentence all along,” the boy’s father said. He added that his family could not rest or sleep until the closure of the case.
In an earlier hearing, Ali Musabeh, who was representing the defendant, argued in his memo that the report of the committee of psychiatrists that mentally evaluated his client was not clear, satisfying or complete in diagnosing his client’s anti-social character and showing how his condition was affected by his alcohol addiction.
Musabeh pleaded earlier at the Court of Appeals to exert leniency towards his client on the grounds he was showing regret over what he did. He said his client was under the influence of alcohol and could not recall what happened that night. He also cited his client’s claims of being rejected within his own family which contributed somehow to his alcohol abuse, as the accused claimed.
The Dubai Public Prosecution has been pushing all along for the court to inflict the death penalty against the accused.
That same report concluded Abdullah was mentally stable and sane and thus could be held responsible for his actions and behaviour.
The court ruling states that the convict should pay Dh21,000 in temporary civil damages and that his body be repatriated to his home country after the execution.
Last month, the Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence against the accused who was convicted in August last year of charges including kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing the Jordanian child.
The boy went missing on May 20, 2016, and his body was found two days later on the side of a road in Al Warqa.
A death penalty ruling that comes out of the Dubai Court of Cassation has to be approved by the Dubai Ruler before it can be executed, as per Article 67 of the UAE Federal Penal Code. Convicts sentenced to death are executed in Dubai by a firing squad.