DUBAI // A father accused of torturing his 8-year-old daughter to death jumped out of the dock and tried to attack a police witness testifying in court this morning.
The officer was telling the criminal court that when the father, HS, a 29-year-old Emirati, wanted to have sex with his girlfriend AM, 27, also Emirati, the pair would lock the man's two daughters - Wadeema, 8, and Mira, 7 - in the bathroom.
"Why would you say that, this is a lie," shouted the father, who jumped from the dock and charged at the witness before being restrained by court guards.
The father was then moved to the court's detention room on the orders of judge Maher Salameh.
The girlfriend also insulted the officer, who works in the Criminal Investigations Department.
"May you be in a fatal accident," she told the officer, before screaming: "I did it all, give me the death penalty."
The judge then adjourned the case to December 12.
Both the father and his girlfriend are charged with imprisoning and torturing the man's two daughters, as well as killing Wadeema, hiding her body and burying her without the proper permits.
The girlfriend has confessed to all the charges, but the father has denied them all except for hiding his daughter's body.
The couple are accused of burning the girls with irons and cigarettes in their studio apartment in International City. They are said to have poured boiling water on the girls, and beaten them with sticks, electrical wires and bars.
Prosecutors said they also used an electrical stun gun on the girls. When Wadeema died from her injuries, she was wrapped in a white cloth and buried in the desert in Sharjah.
salamir@thenational.ae
