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Obaida killer may be mentally ill: Defence lawyer

Dubai - Lawyer Darwish said that the accused claimed he suffered from mental illness but he did not provide proof for his claims.

The lawyer of a Jordanian man, who had been sentenced to death for sexually assaulting and murdering eight-year-old Obaida, requested the court on Sunday that his client be referred to a mental institution to examine his sanity and assess how responsible he was at the time he committed the crime.
Advocate Ali Musabbeh was assigned by the Court of Appeals last week to represent the 48-year-old convict, Nidal Eissa Abdullah, after the previous defence lawyer backed out because of what he called a moral obligation.
The defendant did not attend the trial for the third consecutive time.
Omran Darwish, a court-appointed lawyer, earlier backed out from representing Abdullah for what he deemed as moral obligation.
Darwish said that the accused claimed he suffered from mental illness but he did not provide proof for his claims.
"I 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 earlier admitted 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 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 court adjourned the trial to October 30.
mary@khaleejtimes.com
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