Obaida killer's lawyer backs out at appeals court

A court-appointed lawyer backed out on Sunday from representing the Jordanian man, sentenced to death for sexually assaulting and murdering eight-year-old Obaida.
"Please, your honour, spare me that responsibility; I was arguing on his behalf in the Court of First Instance whereas he claimed he suffered from mental illness but he did not provide proof for his claims," lawyer Omran Darwish told the Court of Appeals.
He told the court that a moral restriction would stop him from further representing the 48-year-old convict (Nidal Eissa Abdullah) because he was not able to verify his claims. "My request, to refer him to an expert committee to evaluate his mental sanity and to address his country's embassy to obtain a copy of his medical file back home, was not met in the primary court," he argued.
Abdullah, who did not show up in court, admitted earlier to charges of murder and consuming of alcohol.
He denied, however, charges of assaulting the victim, Obaida, also from Jordan, after kidnapping him from outside his parents' house in Sharjah.
He claimed before the court that he suffered from mental and psychological problems and he did not recall anything and is not aware of what happened on the day of the incident.
In August, a bench of the Dubai Court of First Instance unanimously sentenced Abdullah to death after convicting him of sexually assaulting and killing the child.
The court also ruled Abdullah should pay Dh21,000 in temporary civil damages to Obaida's family and that his body be repatriated after execution.
The case dates back to May 20 when the child was reported missing from outside his parents' house and his body was found two days later on the side of a road in Al Warqa.
The hearing has been adjourned to October 16.
mary@khaleejtimes.com