Dubai: Residents of Al Qusais were in shock over the gruesome rape and murder of a four-year-old Pakistani boy inside the toilet of a mosque where his father prays regularly.

The parents of Mousa - who was found dead on November 27 - said they do not want "diya" or blood money.

The father, Mukhtiar Ahmad Khuda, 30, a driver for Ahmad Eisa Ali General Trading, said that he will accept nothing less than capital punishment for the murderer. "I hope he gets executed," said Jamala Khatoun, Mousa's mother.

Police detained a Bahraini suspect, 30, who they said confessed during interrogation that he killed the boy after sexually assaulting him. He told police he had been drinking alcohol on the night before Eid.

Confession

Maj Gen Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Deputy Chief of Dubai Police, said the suspect was among those immediately arrested after they received the report. He said the suspect had a criminal record and confessed to his crime during interrogation.

Mousa, born on September 11, 2005, left their house in Shabiat, a colony of old houses in Al Qusais, around 11am on the first day of Eid (Friday) to play with his friends in front of the mosque near Al Geel Al Saeed Grocery.

Mousa has two other siblings - Mustafa, seven, and Mariam, 14 months.

Khuda said that Mustafa has been suffering from fever since his brother's death.

"He is terrified to go out of the house," he said.

Almost all the children in the neighbourhood were afraid to go near the area, he added.

Neighbours who were shocked by the news said they knew nothing about the suspect.

The mosque's imam, Jamal, said he noticed nothing unusual on that day, but when he headed to the mosque for afternoon prayer, men at the mosque told him there was a boy lying unconscious in the toilet. He said they immediately called the police.

"We don't know him," said the imam of the suspect.

A grocery worker said, "We've never seen him in this neighbourhood before."

The boy's body was released on Saturday morning and was buried the same day in Al Quoz.