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Abu Dhabi —The woman accused of killing an American schoolteacher at a mall in Abu Dhabi’s Reem Island denied all charges levelled against her, blaming her actions on a chronic mental illness and “possession by evil spirits”.
On Monday, the 30-year-old defendant, Alaa Bader Abdullah Al Hashemi, made her second appearance at the State Security Court.
She claimed in court that she was ill-treated during the case’s investigation and was forced to confess.
Her mental illness, she said, lead to “unreal visions” where she imagines seeing “ghost-like people”.
“I have had this illness since I was as young as three or four years old. I started seeing (imaginary) women and would speak to them and play with them ... I ask the court and the prison to consider by situation and to provide me with psychological help,” she said.
She is charged with murdering the 47-year-old schoolteacher, Ibolya Ryan, “on purpose and aggressively” on December 1 last year.
According to the prosecution, she used a knife to stab the victim several times in different parts of her body which led to her death.
She is also accused of attempting to murder a man and his family after making a crude bomb that she placed in a building near the Abu Dhabi Corniche where the family resided.
She had ignited the bomb with the aim of terrorising people and murdering the family, it was said in court. However, the bomb failed to detonate.
The prosecution said the defendant committed these crimes to execute a terror act and threaten the stability and security of the country. The defendant also made monetary contributions to Al Qaeda in Yemen with the knowledge that it would be used in terror crimes, the prosecution said.
It was also said she established two websites by which she spread terror ideologies, including that of Daesh. She used other websites to defame the symbols of the UAE with the purpose of ruining the country’s reputation.
The case has been adjourned to April 14 when three prosecution witnesses will give their testimonies.
news@khaleejtimes.com
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