Maadi child molester might face death sentence according to law

CAIRO – 11 March 2021: A child molester who dominated news the past days after he was caught on camera abusing a young girl, is referred to Egyptian criminal court for trial.

Questions arouse around the expected punishment against him, given the law punishes molestation of persons under the age of 12 years by a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.

However, judicial experts said that the Maadi molester, as known in the media, might face harsher punishment that amount to death penalty due to being accused of kidnapping the girl along with committing indecent assault against her.  

The prosecution draws two accusations against the accused. The first accusation is stipulated in Article 290 of the Penal Code, punishing anyone who deceives or coercively kidnaps a person with temporary hard labor for a period of no less than 10 years in prison. In case the kidnapped is a child or a female, the punishment will be life sentence.

The law says that the perpetrator of the felony could face death sentence in case his crime was associated with indecent assault, which is the case for Maadi molester.

While the second accusation is stipulated in Article 268 of the Penal Code, by punishing everyone who commits indecent assault against a person by force or threat, or attempts to commit, by temporary hard labor. In case the age of the victim is less than 18 years old, the penalty shall be hard labor for a period of not less than seven years.  

On Wednesday, Egypt’s Prosecutor General Hamada el Sawy, ordered the referral of Maadi child abuser to the Criminal Court.

According to a statement by the Public Prosecution, the defendant seduced a seven-year-old girl and attempted to sexually harass her by touching her inappropriately.

The man, who was arrested on Tuesday, lured a girl selling tissues in the street in Maadi district, and made her follow him into a residential building, where he committed his crime.

lady who works at a laboratory in the same residential building saw the harasser on a CCTV while touching the girl’s body.

The lady said in the investigations that she opened the door abruptly, confronted the man, who fled the scene after he knew that his crime was recorded on a the surveillance camera.

The lady then published the recorded video that shows the incident on Facebook; the video became viral and triggered angry posts calling for holding the harasser accountable for his crime. Social media users also hailed the brave lady for her rapid action to rescue the girl and help in arresting the harasser.