Rapist-murderer of Wari schoolgirl sentenced to death

A Dhaka court today sentenced Harun Or Rashid to death for the rape and murder of schoolgirl Samia Afrin Saima last year.

Judge Kazi Abdul Hannan of Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-1 in Dhaka delivered the verdict in presence of the lone accused this morning.

Saima, a nursery student of Silverdale Preparatory and Girls' High School, was murdered after she was raped in the building where she lived with her family at Dhaka's Wari on July 5 last year.

A day after the murder, her father Abdus Salam filed a case under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.

On July 7, Harun was arrested from his village in Cumilla's Dabordanga, where he went into hiding since the killing.

Inspector Md Arjun of Detective Branch of police submitted the charge sheet against Harun to Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka on November 4 last year.

The court framed charges against him on January 2 this year and started the trial four days later by recording the complainant's testimony.

The statements of 14 prosecution witnesses out of 17 were recorded during the trial proceedings.

What happened?

Harun, aged around 25, had moved in with his cousin Parvez's family on a 7th floor flat in same building as Saima's  two months before the rape.

Saima and her parents lived on the 5th floor and the child often went to Parvez's flat to play with his son and knew the suspect, police officials said earlier. 

On July 5, Saima told her mother she was heading out of the apartment and would return in 10minutes but she ran into Harun in the lift and he took her to the roof. 

Once on the roof, he raped the child and killed her. He later fled to his village home in Cumilla's Dabordanga area. 

The rape-murder triggered protests around the country.