ABU DHABI // The death sentence passed on a school janitor who raped a seven-year-old girl was upheld by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
I K, an Indian, had been sentenced to death by the Criminal Court, a verdict that was upheld by the First Appeals Court.
The verdict was then referred to the Court of Cassation, which returned the case to appeals because it considered the verdict invalid.
The court decided that the verdict had not considered a major defence claim in its detailed ruling.
By law, the verdict’s details should respond to all the defence’s claims with explanations of why they had been dismissed. Defence lawyers had argued that I K’s confessions were extracted by force.
The first verdict did not explain why it dismissed that defence, especially since this defence was considered vital and could have changed the outcome of the case had it been proven true.
Previously, the court was told that the victim had identified I K as her attacker by referring to his nickname, Babo.
On the day of the incident, a teacher had asked the youngster to take some papers to the school administration office.
While she was on her way, I K saw the girl, pulled her into a kitchen and raped her. The attack was discovered by the child’s aunt when she found blood on her clothes.
The defence argued that there was no forensic evidence to suggest that I K had committed the crime and, based on the testimonies of teachers at the school, it was impossible for the rape to have taken place in the kitchen without anyone noticing.
After the Court of Appeal’s decision, proceedings will return to the cassation stage.
All death sentences must go through all trial stages – criminal, appeals and cassation – before being implemented.
hdajani@thenational.ae