Child killer will face death penalty, Abu Dhabi court rules

The National -- A man who raped and strangled an 11-year-old boy on the roof of an apartment building in Abu Dhabi will be sentenced to death, the Court of Cassation has ruled.

Athan Janjua was returning from a mosque across the street from his home when he was brutally attacked by Mohsen Bilal in May, 2017.

Bilal, who disguised himself as a woman by wearing an abaya, lured the boy to the rooftop of the apartment block, where the victim lived with his family.

The Pakistani defendant tried to rape Athan, who was his sister’s step son, but the boy resisted and begged his attacker to respect the copy of the Quran lying next to him, prosecutors said based on the defendant’s confessions.

When Athan continued to resist, his attacker strangled him with a laundry rope.

Both the criminal court and appeals court sentenced the Pakistani man to death and - with the court of cassation upholding the sentence - the verdict is now final.

During the court case, prosecutors produced CCTV footage that showed the defendant walking into the building wearing women’s clothes.

They said he tricked the boy into following him to the roof before he sexually assaulted him.

The boy’s body was discovered the next day by maintenance workers.

Both public prosecution and the boy’s Russian mother and Pakistani father insisted on the death sentence against Athan’s killer.