Malé, Maldives – The adult being charged with the murder is Ibrahim Zihan, N. Landhoo, Bageechaage, waived his right to a lawyer at the remand hearing at the Criminal Court of Maldives earlier today.
Zihan was remanded to custody until the end of trial by the Criminal Court.
The trial of the 13 charges raised against Zihan started at 11:00, Thursday. The charges against Zihan include;
- One count of deliberately committing a murder
- Five counts of wrongly touching a child with sexual intentions
- One count of raping a child after giving drugs
- Grooming a minor for sexual purposes
- illegally captivating a minor
- Wrongfully using a dead body for gain
- Using a minor in committing a criminal offence
In addition to these charges, Prosecutor General Shameem informed that Zihaan is being charged with two additional charges related to another case. He also added that charges of deliberately committing murder will also be raised against the minor arrested with Zihaan.
Prosecuter General Hussain Shameem previously publicised a tweet informing that the PGO has decided to submit charges against the two individuals; a minor aged 17 and an adult aged 27; over the violent murder of a juvenile in Hulhumalé.
Further details were revealed during a press conference later in the day. PGO has raised over 8 charges against the adult, and three charges against the minor, all of which include murder, sexual assault, child grooming and taking advantage of a body.
The remains of the 13 year old boy was discovered in the early hours of June 22, 2021, following a 48-hour search, contained in a box that had set to sea around the area of Hulhumalé Phase 2. The boy’s body was sent for postmortem on July 5th, then recovered and laid to rest on 12th July. Although Police media official informed that they received the preliminary report, till date, no details of the report has been officially revealed.
