Janitor convicted of raping girl, 7, appeals sentence

A janitor, convicted of raping a seven-year-old girl, has returned to the Appeals Court. His lawyer claims there is no DNA evidence to support his conviction.

ABU DHABI // A janitor who raped a seven-year-old school girl has once again appeared in court, as his lawyer claims that there was no DNA evidence to support his conviction.

IK, 56, from India, was found guilty of raping the Emirati in the kitchen of a private school and was sentence to death at both the criminal and appeals courts.

Now his defence attorney, Jassim Al Suwaidi, has argued that the DNA sample did not match that of the defendant and none of his DNA was found at the scene or on the victim.

“If the results said ‘there was no match’ it could mean that no sample was taken from him previously and that is why no match was found - this could be what no match means,” explained chief justice Dr Khairi Al Kabbash.

“Therefore we must summon the forensics expert to explain this aspect,” Dr Al Kabbash said.

Mr Al Suwaidi said that there was reason for doubt.

“Even in the statements of the victim there are many aspects that contradict the incident,” said the lawyer

“Even the samples taken from the girl’s clothes did not have any blood in them.”

IK said that he was simply in the kitchen having breakfast during his break.

Prosecutors said that on the day of the incident, a teacher had asked the youngster to take some papers to the school administration.

IK allegedly saw the girl and pulled her into a kitchen and raped her. The child’s aunt when she found blood on her clothes and found red marks on her while bathing her.

Teachers at the school had previously testified that it was impossible that the attack took place in the kitchen without anyone noticing.

The case was adjourned until October 27 to summon a forensics expert.