CAIRO: The Giza Criminal Court sentenced Wednesday 19-year-old Mahmoud Sayed Abdel Hafez Essawy to death for the murder of Heba El-Akkad and Nadine Khaled. Essawy's lawyer said he will appeal the verdict. Essawy was found guilty in the high-profile murder case that took place in Khaled's home in Al-Nada compound in Sheikh Zayed city last November. The verdict was referred to the Grand Mufti for approval, which is a standard regulation for death sentences. The court is scheduled to confirm the verdict on June 17 pending the Mufti's approval. Ahmed Gomaa, Essawy's lawyer, plans on appealing the verdict, he told Daily News Egypt, but will wait until the verdict is confirmed. "This verdict is not final, he said. Essawy's trial was doled out over eight sessions. In one of the recent sessions, Gomaa left the courtroom when the judge refused to allow a witness, coroner Hoda Al-Gabaly, to answer a question regarding her professional opinion on how the victims' blood traces ended up on Essawy's undershirt. During the court hearing, Essawy denied that the undershirt - the only evidence presented by the prosecution - belonged to him. Last February, the court listened to the state coroner, who had conducted the autopsy on the two victims and also examined Essawy. The coroner said that there was no evidence on the girls' bodies suggesting that Essawy was at the scene of the crime, nor were there any signs of resistance by the victims on Essawy's body. Essawy pleaded not guilty to the murders and said that the confessions were extracted from him under pressure - a claim Essam Shiha, Khaled's lawyer, rejects. "He confessed without any pressure from anyone, but it's normal for him to retract his statements now that he's facing the death penalty, Shiha told Daily News Egypt in a previous interview.
