New defence lawyer in Obaida murder case wins mental health check for client

Killer Nidal Abu Ali fails to show up in court for third hearing in a row.

Obaida Al Aqrabawi, 8, was kidnapped on May 20 while playing outside his father’s garage in Sharjah’s industrial area. His body was found two days later in Al Warqa, Dubai.

DUBAI // For the third hearing in a row, the man who raped and killed Obaida Al Aqrabawi, 8, failed to appear in court on Sunday.

In a hearing that lasted less than a minute, the newly appointed defence lawyer of Jordanian Nidal Abu Ali requested that his client be given a mental health check-up.

“Through reading the file and the documents I could only find one request that the lower court had ignored, which is referring the defendant to a medical committee to determine his mental health at the time of the murder,” said lawyer Ali Musabbeh.

“Your honour, the defendant said it several times that he suffered from mental health problems and underwent some treatment in his home country, therefore I request that he be referred to a medical committee to evaluate his mental health.”

The judge agreed to the request and said that Abu Ali should be evaluated at Rashid Hospital’s mental health department.

The killer's previous lawyer, Omran Darweesh, who represented him at Dubai Criminal Court, asked to be excused from the case and told judges that he had done his duty as a lawyer and could no longer bear the weight of a child's death on his shoulders.

Jordanian Obaida was kidnapped on May 20 while playing outside his father’s garage in Sharjah’s industrial area. His body was found two days later in Al Warqa, Dubai.

Abu Ali, 48, admitted to drinking excessive amounts of alcohol that day and killing the boy, but denied sexual assault and kidnapping.

He was sentenced to death by Dubai Criminal Court on August 15 for the kidnap, rape and premeditated murder of the boy. He was also found guilty of drinking alcohol without a licence and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Abu Ali had claimed during his trial that he suffered from a mental illness but the court dismissed it as it was not supported by documents.

The next hearing was scheduled for November 13 and the judge said Abu Ali should be summoned by force if necessary. No reasons for his absences were given.

Obaida’s father, mother and uncle were in court on Sunday.