KUWAIT CITY, Feb 24: New surprises emerged Wednesday during the interrogation of Mariam Fadhel, a Pakistani girl who according to earlier reports was raped and killed by an Egyptian, at the Public Prosecution.
Mariam told the investigators that she married her lover - S. Ali - through the telephone and they have been living together in his flat in Abu Halifa since she disappeared.
Clarifying the earlier reports, Mariam said she is 21 years old, not 15, while the man who reported her disappearance to the authorities is not her father but a family friend.  She added her father had asked her to live with the family in Kuwait and marry her cousin but she escaped to marry the man she loves.
The lawyer for the Egyptian man, who has admitted to kidnapping and murdering Mariam, Attorney Saqqaf Al-Saqqaf, requested the Public Prosecution to release his client on any guarantee, but the latter refused as the Egyptian has been referred to the court.
The Public Prosecutor later said he will summon Alaa, the Egyptian suspect, for interrogation on Tuesday to listen to his explanation as he has admitted a crime that he did not commit. He has also re-enacted the crime before the Public Prosecution.
Police have finally solved the mystery of the ‘missing’ Pakistani girl who was reported strangled to death by an Egyptian man after raping her in a suburb of Khaitan, Al-Rai daily had reported earlier.
The girl was found alive and kicking. She was holed inside an apartment in Abu Halifa with another Pakistani youth who she says ‘met her by chance’.
According to reports the lid came off when she called her uncle from the mobile phone of the youth with whom she was living. She reportedly let the phone ring once and then switched it off.
The uncle informed the police about the strange call and intensive police investigations led securitymen to the couple.
During interrogation the girl told police she knew nothing about what had been published about her in the local newspapers. However, on the day she was reported missing she was with her lover Tajamal, who since her disappearance is said to have left the country.
She added she was planning to elope with Tajamal but when he backed off she was frightened to return home for fear her uncle would punish her and it is then she found the youth with whom she went to Abu Halifa.
However, the alleged murder gained credibility when an Egyptian man, admitted to raping and killing the girl and dumping her remains in garbage bin.
The daily in its report severely criticized the Interior Ministry, particularly the Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department Brigadier Sheikh Ali Al-Yousef Al-Sabah and Director of Monetary Crimes Colonel Farraj Al-Zuabi who personally interrogated the Egyptian and allegedly put pressure on him to admit to the crime he had not committed and his confession almost led him to the gallows. The daily said both Al-Yousef and Al-Zuabi must show courage and resign.
Meanwhile, the Al-Anba daily added the Egyptian later denied murdering the girl and said he was tortured and that he admitted to the crime under duress.
The Psychiatric Hospital report shows the man is suffering from mental problems. Moreover, the Public Prosecution had cast doubts on his confession from day one. A security source added some interrogation officers may be punished and forced into retirement.
Sponsor bailed
The Court of Appeals released Wednesday on KD 200 bail a Kuwaiti woman, identified only as Iman, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail by a lower court for the premeditated murder of her Asian housemaid. The court then set March 24, 2010 to look into her appeal.
In a previous session, the woman’s lawyer argued in court that she had no intention to kill the housemaid as she was only trying to discipline her.
Claiming that the interrogations of the Public Prosecution were not complete, the lawyer asked the court to consider the possibility of allowing the suspect to ask forgiveness from the victim’s family.
The lawyer had submitted to the court a memo on his argument and a letter of forgiveness from the victim’s family, stating the suspect’s family has paid them KD 25,000 compensation.
Case files indicate and according to the testimony of the suspect’s husband on Aug 27, 2007, the suspect beat the victim with a large stick, an electric wire and an iron bar three days before the latter died.
The witness added on the day of the incident the suspect beat the housemaid again and pushed her to the floor. The victim hit the stairs and she sustained injuries. The woman then told her husband that she will take the victim to the hospital, but she did not do so and she left the victim to bleed to death.
On Dec 22, 2009, the Criminal Court sentenced Iman to 15 years in jail.
The session was presided over by Judge Faisal Khuraibet.