Pilot who killed 1-year-old daughter by bashing her head against wall while high on drugs jailed for 20 years
A British pilot was found guilty of murdering his one-year-old daughter by bashing her head against a wall, and was given two decades behind bars for the crime. A court in Kazakhstan said that British airbus captain Mohamed Barakat had bashed the head of Sophia against a wall that crushed her brains and fractured her skull. On December 22, the court sentenced the 42-year-old father to two decades of jail time for killing the toddler after being high on booze and drugs at a luxury hotel in Kazakhstan. The court was also told during the trial that Barakat had previously beat his wife Madina Abdullayeva, The Sun reported.
The sentencing of the man came after a judge refuted his claims that the young girl died due to an “accident” resulting from an “epileptic fit”. Judge Bakhytkhan Bakirbayev said that the fatal wounds on Sophia were due to “repeated impact with hard objects and surfaces, and could not be obtained from a fall”. Bakirbayev also added that there was no earlier proof of Barakat suffering from epilepsy. During the investigation, a secret stash of cannabis was found in his hotel room and it was revealed that he had cocaine earlier. The London-born pilot for a subsidiary of Hong Kong Airlines will reportedly be behind bars for two decades in Kazakhstan jail. Besides, he has been ordered to pay $181 as compensation to Abdullayeva.
However, he has been given 15 days to appeal for a re-trial against his conviction and sentence. A court statement by press secretary Abay Zharylkasyn stated that his guilt was proved “by the testimony of a witness - a maid who heard the sounds of banging on the wall, after which the crying of the child fell silent.” The evil father had previously said to the court, “Just because you have the power to put me in prison, that doesn't mean you have the power to make me guilty. It means you will put an innocent man in prison. I would never hurt my own daughter,” before adding: “I was the first person who saw Sophia coming into this world. I was going to teach her how to fly.”
Reports stated that the tragic incident happened in October 2019, and the CCTV footage of the five-star Intercontinental Hotel in Almaty showed the child’s mother carrying her in her arms. The judge said people who witnessed the scene said that the 23-year-old said at the time that the little one’s father had murdered her. Sophia was “motionless” and “blue” in color, while Abdullayeva yelled, “He killed my child, he hit her.”
But later, the mother changed her statement as she said, “I have no claims against my spouse Mohamed Barakat. He could not hurt our child and moreover he was not capable of committing the crime. I ask you to accept this statement as a basis for cancelling all the previous accusatory testimony made by me against my husband. Mohamed is the most loving and caring husband and friend. I love him with all my heart.”
“You would probably think what kind of woman am I who protects her spouse who allegedly killed the child. However, this was not an intentional crime, he is not simply capable of causing harm, especially to Sophia,” Abdullayeva explained as she added that the last year's incident at the hotel “could only be death by negligence during an epileptic seizure. Mohamed would not hesitate to give his life for Sophia. She was everything for him. It was an accident.”
Abdullayeva’s husband, who had pleaded not guilty, claimed in the court that he had a medical history of suffering from epilepsy. He blamed his “seizure” for the death of Sophia, calling it an “accident”. Sara, sister of Barakat, also backed his claim as she said that he “must have suffered a seizure”. “We have no doubts in our minds or in our hearts that he is innocent,” she added.