ABU DHABI // A man who ran over and killed a 12-year-old boy he blamed for throwing rubbish into his car said yesterday he did not mean the child to die.
SHB, from Pakistan, told the Criminal Court he was sitting in his car working on his laptop when a group of boys knocked on his window. When he opened it, they threw pieces of waste paper into his car then ran off.
He drove after the children and hit HK, from Sudan, who ran out in front of the vehicle. The driver said he fled the scene because he was scared of the boy's family.
Police investigations found that the dead boy had not been with the others when they threw the rubbish in the car.
When Chief Justice Sayed Abdul Baseer asked the driver to explain how the boy's death could have been unintentional, he answered through a translator.
His answer did not make sense and his lawyer claimed the translation was inaccurate. The lawyer complained on a number of occasions about the translator and demanded he be replaced.
The judge asked the translator if he spoke the accused man's language fluently, but he replied that it was not his mother tongue.
The judge adjourned the case to December 16 while a new translator is appointed. He also asked for the boy's mother to attend court and say whether she would accept blood money.
The boy's father has asked for the death penalty.
