Prime accused Sohel Rana on Wednesday begged the court’s pardon and his wife denied the charges against her while they had been defending themselves in a special tribunal in the case of killing an eight-year-old girl after rape at Pallabi in the capital on May 19.

Judge Masrur Salekin of the Dhaka Metropolitan Violence Against Children Prevention Tribunal posted for today the hearing of closing arguments in the case.

In the beginning of the day’s hearing, the tribunal read out incriminating evidence and various aspects of the charges to the accused.

Sohel, at this point, claimed to be innocent but begged the tribunal’s pardon.

He then told the court that an individual named ‘Dollar’ was with him and the individual was guilty too, though nobody saw him.

He demanded the arrest of the person and claimed that his wife Swapna was innocent.

Swapna denied the charges against her and told the court that she was innocent.

‘I did wrong. Please pardon me,’ state-appointed counsel for the accused couple and Supreme Court lawyer Musa Kalimullah quoted Sohel as saying to the tribunal.

Special public prosecutor Azizur Rahman Dulu, who is assigned to deal with the case, said that the tribunal read out the incriminating evidence from the recorded testimonies of all the witnesses before the accused.

Summarising the incriminating evidence, Azizur said that the accused Sohel raped and killed the victim by slitting her throat, severing her hands and causing injuries to other parts of her body in the apartment where Sohel and his wife used to live.

During the murder, Swapna neither took any action to prevent the crime nor told anything to anyone outside the door or window, he said.

Furthermore, when the door was asked to be opened, she did not open it and, as a result, Sohel broke the window grill and managed to escape, added Azizur.

Responding to the tribunal, Sohel initially claimed innocence but later apologised to the tribunal and admitted his guilt, he said and added that Swapna claimed to be innocent, he said.

When asked about Dollar whose name was mentioned by accused Sohel, Azizur said that an accused might mention the name of a person but it was not a matter for consideration in court proceedings, as the name was not on the record.

Earlier, the special tribunal on Tuesday, a day after framing charges against the couple, completed recording the testimonies of 16 prosecution witnesses in the case.

The police on May 24 submitted a charge sheet and supporting documents in connection with the rape and murder of the child.

According to the charge sheet, the investigators found evidence of rape and murder against Sohel, and abetting the crimes against Swapna.

The eight-year-old child’s dismembered remains were recovered from Sohel’s apartment in Pallabi on May 19.

Sohel fled the scene by breaking the window grille of the apartment’s toilet. However, his wife was detained from the scene, and he was later arrested that evening in Narayanganj.

The day after the killing, the child’s father filed a case against Sohel, his wife and an unidentified person at Pallabi police station.

On the afternoon of May 20, Sohel gave a confessional statement before a Dhaka court.

According to the case statement, the victim lived with her family in an apartment in Mirpur Section-11 of Pallabi.

Sohel and his wife Swapna used to live as subtenants in another apartment of the same building.

The prosecution alleged that the victim was lured into the couple’s apartment after she had left her home at around 9:30am on May 19.

When the child could not be found and it was time for her to go to school, her mother began searching for her. She noticed the victim’s sandals in front of the accused persons’ room and became suspicious.

Local residents later broke open the door and entered the flat. They found the victim’s body in a bedroom, while her severed head was recovered from a bucket inside a bathroom.

Sohel’s wife was present at the scene, according to the case documents.

The rape and murder of the child sparked widespread protests across the country demanding a speedy and exemplary trial.