ABU DHABI// A man who ran over and killed a 12-year-old boy because he thought he had thrown rubbish into his car had his 15-year jail sentence changed to the death penalty on Monday.
The original verdict of manslaughter for Pakistani S H B was changed to premeditated murder by the second appeals court.
The court heard that S H B was sitting in his car in Mussaffah when a group of boys started teasing him. The victim, Hazaa Khaled, from Sudan, was standing by watching.
The boys then threw rubbish into an open window of his car, causing S H B to drive his vehicle at the group. Most of the boys managed to run to the side of the car, except Hazaa who was run down.
S H B denied intending to kill the boy, saying he just meant to scare them and he was only driving at 40kph.
However, evidence showed that S H B had driven on to a sandy area to follow the group, while the impact with Hazaa was so strong it broke his skull.
At an earlier trial the Criminal Court of First Instance found him guilty of manslaughter and sentenced him to 15 years in prison, blood money of Dh200,000 and compensation of Dh21,000 to the parents.
However, the boy’s parents insisted the court issue a death sentence, and refused to pardon him or accept blood money.
The first appeals court upheld the manslaughter verdict, but it was bounced back by cassation.
The second appeals court convicted the man of premeditated murder and sentenced him to death.
hdajani@thenational.ae