ABU DHABI // A father who whipped his 12-year-old son to death over poor school grades has had his three-year jail sentence reduced to one year on appeal.
The Abu Dhabi Appeals Court heard how R M, an Emirati, denied intentionally killing his son, claiming he had only beat the boy to discipline him.
A former drug addict, he said he had lost his temper because his son lied to him and, despite spending money on private tuition, he had failed his exams.
The father said that on the day of the beating he rose for dawn prayers and then woke his son, who was sleeping beside his mother.
He demanded an honest response regarding his report card and when the son admitted he failed, the father beat him with an electrical cord until the boy was unconscious.
At the previous trial, Abu Dhabi Criminal Court heard how the boy was driven to hospital by his mother but died before he arrived.
The father, however, claimed that when his son passed out he called his wife and they both took him to the hospital.
The court also heard that he had twice beaten his son the day before, although the defendant said he had only beaten him once.
“My soul was attached to this boy. We used to do everything together. If I were given the choice between my life and his, it would be his,” he told the court in an earlier session.
The Criminal Court found him guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced him to three years in prison and a blood money payment of Dh200,000.
The child’s mother waived her right to a share of it, so he was sentenced to pay the remaining sum to his other children.
And as the child’s relatives did not seek the death penalty, the maximum sentence the Criminal Court could pass was three years in jail.
The boy’s mother and grandfather said they accepted the father’s claim that he did not mean to kill the boy.
Originally, the man was charged with “beating that leads to death”. This was changed at the Criminal Court to premeditated murder, of which the father was found guilty.
Had he been convicted of the first charge, he would have faced a sentence ranging from five years to life.
hdajani@thenational.ae
