The Zagazig Criminal Court handed the death sentence to a 62-year-old man on Sunday for killing his child neighbour after robbing and molesting her.
Mustafa Dorgham, a 62-year-old restaurant owner, was arrested last May and accused of murdering and raping seven-year-old Basmala. The girl had disappeared after her parents sent her to run an errand, reported state-run news agency MENA. She was later found killed in a dumpster.
Dorgham reportedly took the little girl into his house, where he sexually assaulted her, strangled her using her trousers, and then stole her gold earrings, reported MENA. He then disposed of the child’s body by throwing her into a garbage dumpster nearby. The defendant confessed his crimes following his arrest.
In February, two minors were sentenced to 15 years in prison, the maximum allowed by law, also for child murder.
Mohamed Casper, 17, and Alaa Gumaa Ahmed, 16, were found guilty in the Port Said Juvenile Criminal Court for the murder of five-year-old Zeina Arafa on 13 November, 2013. Based on investigations, Casper and Ahmed trapped Zeina on the roof of her building with the intent to sexually assault her. When she screamed, the boys threw her off the roof.
Zeina’s murder and attempted rape resulted in public outrage last November. There have been calls for the death penalty for the suspects by Zeina’s family, sympathisers and activists in solidarity with the slain minor.
