Written by 
The birth of a baby to a man and his girlfriend accused of torturing the man’s daughters has compelled a court to adjourn a hearing of witnesses’ statements in the case.
The Emirati suspects, Hamad S, 29, and Al Onoud A, 27, are being prosecuted before the Dubai Court of First Instance for illegally confining the two daughters in a flat and torturing them. Prosecutors claimed the ill-treatment resulted in eight-year-old Wudeema’s death and caused injuries to seven-year-old Meera.
“My wife Al Onoud gave birth to our baby boy Saud,” Hamad claimed as he sought to justify his wife’s absence before Presiding Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi in courtroom seven on Sunday morning.
“The court reconvenes on November 7 to hear the statements of prosecution witnesses who were scheduled to be heard today [Sunday],” said Presiding Judge Al Mahdi.
Al Onoud had appeared to be pregnant when she appeared in court during previous hearings. However, no details were available as to where and when she delivered her baby.
In an earlier hearing, Hamad’s brother had testified that Hamad loved and cared for his daughters and it was his girlfriend who tortured them.
Prosecution records said Wudeema had died because of the torture and Meera had sustained 10 per cent permanent disability.
Hamad’s brother testified that his niece [Meera] told him that it was Al Onoud who constantly beat and tortured her and her sister. He said Meera had complained that she and her sister were often subjected to electric shocks among other forms of torture besides being deprived of food and being made to sleep on the floor. Al Onoud also allegedly used to stub out cigarettes on the girls’ palms.
Meera claimed that the suspects told her that her elder sister [Wudeema] died and that they had buried her.
A forensic doctor testified that Wudeema’s badly decomposed body had made it impossible to tell the exact cause of her death. He however testified that a medical examination of Meera showed signs of electrocution and burns on her feet caused by a cloth iron and cigarettes.
The girls’ mother testified before the judge that Meera had told her that her father and his girlfriend used to beat and torture her and her sister, thus contradicting the uncle’s testimony before the court.
