DUBAI: The Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday sentenced to death a man convicted of raping and killing a four-year-old boy in a mosque’s bathroom last November.
The 30-year-old Emirati, a fishing boat captain, was already a convicted sex offender, who was released from prison only last year. He is due to be executed by firing squad and has 15 days to appeal the sentence.
“The killer showed no mercy to the child and so the court will show him no mercy,” presiding judge Fahmi Mounir told a packed courtroom, while pronouncing the verdict.
Chief Prosecutor Yousuf Foulaz had asked the three-member jury to hand down the toughest punishment applicable — the death penalty — against the man who raped and killed Moosa Khudabakhsh, a Pakistani boy, on Nov. 27, 2009, the first day of Eid Al-Adha.
“The jury was unanimous in its decision,” Mounir said.
The defendant had admitted at an earlier hearing that he had lured the Pakistani child to the bathroom of the mosque in the Qusais area of Dubai where he raped him and smashed his head against the floor when he heard someone coming.
The Khudabakhsh family was present in the court to hear the sentencing.
Three doctors who had examined the defendant testified that he was mentally sound.
