Dubai: Three police officers recounted in court on Monday how a suspect admitted to them that he had kept an eight-year-old boy’s body in his car after he had raped and killed him.

Testifying before the Dubai Court of First Instance in their capacity as prosecution witnesses, the officers stated that the 49-year-old Jordanian suspect, Nidal Eisa Abdullah, admitted to them that when the father and uncle of Jordanian boy Obaida Sedqi searched his car, “the body was still inside it”.

Abdullah had admitted in an earlier hearing that he raped and murdered Obaida, but contended that he did not kidnap the boy, who willingly sat with him in the car “like he usually did” in May.

“The boy’s father and uncle testified in the last hearing that they did not see the body in the suspect’s car when they peeped through the glass. Was the body in the car then?” presiding judge Urfan Omar asked one of the witnesses.

“Following his arrest, the suspect admitted that the boy’s corpse was still in his car that he had parked in front of the building where he lived. He also admitted that he got rid of the body after the father and the uncle left his house when they came looking for the deceased …,” replied the first lieutenant.

“Is it possible to see inside the car through its tinted windows?” presiding judge Omar asked the witnesses during Monday’s hearing in a fully-packed courtroom. “I cannot answer because I did not look inside the car,” replied the first lieutenant.

When asked if the suspect had intended to kill the boy, the witness affirmed that he [Abdullah] did intend to kill Obaida who had insisted on telling his father what had happened [that he had been raped].

An Indian cleaner testified earlier that he spotted the boy’s body near ghaf trees along Dubai Academic City road before he informed his Sudanese supervisor on May 22.

During Monday’s hearing, the three-judge bench heard the officers’ statements that lasted nearly 90 minutes.

The public prosecution representative, who attended the hearing, notified the court that the Sudanese supervisor is away on leave and won’t be back in Dubai before September.

“Since the law obligates us to hear all prosecution witnesses’ statements and since we are looking into a crime, the maximum punishment for which could reach a death sentence … the court will read out the witness’ [Sudanese supervisor] statement in the courtroom,” said presiding judge Omar as he addressed Abdullah’s lawyer, Omran Darwish, and Obaid Al Mazmi, who is the lawyer of the victim’s family.

Thereafter, presiding judge Omar ordered the court’s secretary, Essam Ali Mohammad, to read out the absent witness’s statement.

Secretary Mohammad read out the witness’s statement, in which the supervisor testified to prosecutors how the janitor found the boy’s body under the trees.

One of the officers testified to the court: “The suspect admitted that he was a friend of the boy’s father. He also admitted that on the day of the incident the father asked him [Abdullah] to buy some diesel and come to his workshop [in Sharjah] to clean the floor. He also admitted that he drank alcohol while doing the floor … he also claimed that Obaida came to him and asked him to buy him a scooter. The suspect further claimed that he told the boy to meet him as soon as he could avoid his father.”

Another witness told the court that police arrested the suspect at 4,20pm at his brother’s villa in Al Warqa’a immediately after having obtained prosecutors’ warrant to do so.

Towards the end of the hearing, Abdullah asked presiding judge Omar for permission to speak to his lawyer.

The court-appointed lawyer walked towards his client and chatted with him before Darwish addressed the judge saying: “Your Honour … my client is requesting that the hearing be held behind closed doors. He has got something to tell the court.”

The presiding judge asked the defence lawyer to submit a written request to court at the next hearing.

Darwish also asked the court to summon the forensic examiner, who examined the body, to cross-examine him.

“The court reconvenes on July 25 to hear the forensic examiner and other witnesses. We will also look into the suspect’s request,” said presiding judge Omar before he suspended the hearing at 10.30am.