Dubai: An Emirati father and his girlfriend, also Emirati, detached themselves from humanity when they tortured eight-year-old Wudeema to death and injured her sister, said Dubai’s Attorney-General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan.

“The couple [the 29-year-old father, Hamad S, and his 27-year-old girlfriend, Al Onoud A.] detached themselves from any sort of humanity and mercy when they tortured the girls [Wudeema and her seven-year-old sister, Meera]. The daughters were locked up in the flat where they were tortured and burnt and left without food. We have asked the Dubai Court of First Instance to implement the Federal Penal Code’s article 344. The article stipulates that a suspect could face capital punishment or life imprisonment if he/she locks up a victim against his/her will and the confinement leads to the victim’s death,” Al Humaidan previously told a media conference.

The couple, Hamad and Al Onoud, first appeared in court in July.

“No I did not torture or beat Wudeema to death. As for Meera I took her to Rashid Hospital to treat her broken arm… I didn’t torture or beat her. I did not confine them, but I used to take them out,” Hamad said when he entered his plea before Presiding Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi.

Meanwhile Al Onoud surprised the court when she contended: “Hamad did not do anything to the girls. I am the one who beat and tortured them with hot water, electric wire, an iron and hot water… I used to electrocute them with the Taser gun.”

Since the trial kicked off in July, the court has heard more than eight witnesses, including the girls’ mother, their uncle and the arresting and investigating police officers.

Hamad’s brother testified in court that his niece (Meera) told him it was Al Onoud who constantly beat and tortured them.

The court also heard from Hamad’s ex-wife, Salma, who claimed both Hamad and his girlfriend tortured the children.

During the previous hearing the court heard Meera’s statement behind closed doors.

Meanwhile on November 13, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, chaired a Cabinet meeting that approved a new draft federal law on children’s right that provides them with protection. The UAE Government approved and named it ‘Wudeema Law’.

“We will not allow incidents in which a child is deprived of a basic right to live, to be repeated. Through this law, Wudeema’s memory will live on, and we remind everyone that children’s rights is a line that should not be crossed…,” said Shaikh Mohammad who ordered renaming the law ‘Wudeema’s law’.

Her mother, Salma, told Gulf News earlier: “Wudeema did not live her life as an ordinary child because her rights were breached. I am sure that this draft law has come to render all sorts and forms of safety, security, peace and protection to children and will also safeguard their rights. I am also sure that it will provide children with the required contentment that my daughter never had.”