A Chittagong court on Thursday sentenced a 45-year-old man to death for murdering an eight-year-old girl after she resisted an attempted sexual assault in Sitakunda upazila four months ago.
Judge Jannatul Ferdous of the Chittagong Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-4 delivered the verdict, convicting Babu Sheikh under Section 302 of the Penal Code and fining him Tk250,000.
The court also sentenced him to life imprisonment under Section 7 of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act and to 10 years' imprisonment under Section 9 of the same law.
Court Bench Assistant Abbas Hossain said the convict was present in the dock when the verdict was pronounced.
Originally from Gobindaganj upazila in Gaibandha, Babu Sheikh had been living as a tenant in the Chhotokumira area of Sitakunda.
What led to the killing
According to the prosecution, the victim was a class two student
Babu Sheikh, who lived in a rented room adjacent to the family's residence, lured the child away from her home on March 1 by promising to buy her chocolates.
He then took her to a secluded hilly trail inside the Sitakunda Botanical Garden and Eco-Park, where he attempted to sexually assault her. When the child threatened to inform her family, he slit her throat with a sharp weapon before fleeing the scene.
Construction workers repairing a nearby road found the critically injured child on a hillside trail about 500 meters north of the Sahasradhara waterfall inside the park. They used pieces of their clothing to stem the bleeding before rushing her to Sitakunda Upazila Health Complex.
She was later transferred to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH), where she underwent emergency surgery. She died from her injuries on March 3 while undergoing treatment.
Police arrested Babu from the Kumira area on March 3, the day the child died. Her mother later filed a murder case at Sitakunda Police Station.
After completing the investigation, police submitted the chargesheet on June 11. The tribunal framed charges on June 18, and the trial began on June 21.
Over six working days, the court recorded the testimony of 16 prosecution witnesses before concluding the proceedings.
The verdict was delivered 12 working days after the submission of the chargesheet, concluding the trial within four months of the crime.