DUBAI // A Jordanian man has been arrested on suspicion of raping and killing a seven-year-old boy, who went missing in Sharjah on Friday.
Police began searching for the boy after he was reported missing from his home in the industrial area of Sharjah.
The 48-year-old was arrested on Sunday morning after police received a report that the body of a child had been found under a tree on Academic City Road in the Al Warqa area.
Major General Khamis Al Muzeina, chief of Dubai Police, said the child was kidnapped from in front of a garage in Sharjah’s industrial area, where the victim’s father worked.
“The forensics doctor said that the child had been dead for less than 24 hours and had been strangled,” said Maj Gen Al Muzeina. “There were signs of struggle on the boy’s chest and hands as well as signs that he had been sexually assaulted.
“Within two hours of receiving the call, we were able to locate the suspect, who was the last person to be seen with the child and was one of the father’s acquaintances.”
The police chief said the suspect, who had previous offences, changed his place of residence when the boy disappeared.
Maj Gen Khalil Al Mansouri, assistant commander of CID at Dubai Police said that during questioning the man admitted to killing the boy after trying to rape him.
The suspect allegedly lured the boy into his car on Friday at 7pm by promising to buy him a scooter.
“He went to the Al Mamzar area in a car, which he had borrowed from his building’s watchman, then parked the car and started to drink alcohol” Maj Gen Al Mansouri said.
“The man told the 7-year-old to undress, but the child resisted and told the man he would tell his father, at which point, the suspect tried to stop the child from screaming and strangled him to death using his hands, then with a head cover.”
Maj Gen Al Mansouri said the suspect left the lifeless body of the child in the back seat of the car and continued to consume alcohol until 5am, when he left the area to go back to his residence in Sharjah.
At 7am, the suspect went to Academic City and dumped the body as well as other items used in the crime, he added.
(via The National)
