A Cox’s Bazar court has sentenced a man to death in a case filed for raping and murdering a seven-year-old girl before dumping her body in a salt field.
Judge Md Osman Gani of Cox’s Bazar Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 delivered the verdict around 11:45am on Tuesday in presence of the convict, said Special Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Titu.
The victim was a class-one student of a local school. Her father filed the case following the incident.
The convict, Md Soleman, 32, son of Syed Karim from Chakmarkul in Ukhiya’s Palongkhali union, was also handed two life sentences and a seven-year jail term for abduction and concealing the body.
According to the case statement, Soleman had been working at the Matarbari power plant and rented a house from the victim’s uncle after getting married in October 2022 of that year.
On November 30, the child, returned home from school and went out to play. Taking advantage of his wife's absence, Soleman lured the girl with chocolate and abducted her to his rented house, where he raped her.
When the victim lost consciousness, he strangled her to death, stuffed the body into a suitcase, and dumped it in a salt field in Koriardiya area of Pekua’s Ujantia union.
Police arrested Soleman and his wife the following day.
Prosecutor Titu said Soleman had previously murdered his wife in Teknaf by strangulation and was on the run when he committed the crime against the child.
Taking this into account, the judge observed that Soleman was on the path to becoming a serial killer and needed to be stopped immediately.
The victim's father along with the prosecution and legal team, expressed satisfaction with the verdict However, the defence claimed they did not receive fair justice and said they would appeal to a higher court.