A young grocer who murdered a five-year-old girl and buried her in his bathroom because her mother owed him GBP 50 has been sentenced to death by hanging.

The shocking case took place in the city of Minya, in Minya Governorate, in Egypt, on 16th July 2021, with the convicted killer, named only as Manar, 20, now set to be executed for the murder of little Duha Ashraf, a court ruled on Thursday, 15th December.

The five-year-old was killed out of revenge against her mother, named as Mona Omar Mohamed, 45, who reportedly owed the grocer EGP 1,500 (GBP 50), the court heard.

Manar also believed that Mona had trashed his reputation with the locals.

So he lured Duha to his home with the promise of chocolate before he killed her and buried her lifeless body in a bathroom on the ground floor of his home.

The court heard how he had gagged her mouth, stopped her from breathing, and hit her with strong blows over the head and on her tiny body.

Mona, also a fruit and vegetable trader, and her son Abdel Rahman, 19 years old, informed Brigadier General Hatem Rabi, head of the Criminal Investigation Branch in northern Minya, that her young daughter was missing.

An investigation was launched and surveillance cameras were checked, but they did not turn up anything.

A few days later, however, the young girl’s friends were playing near the accused’s house when they smelled a foul smell and told their families about it, with the police then informed and the suspect subsequently detained.

The house was searched and the young girl’s body was found, covered in bruises and injuries sustained during the fatal attack, including fractures and a brain haemorrhage.

Lamia Ashraf Ali Khalaf, a 25-year-old student and the victim’s sister, later told the court that the defendant had tried to extract EGP 300,000 (GBP 9,967) from the family, threatening to kill the little girl if they did not comply.

A search of Manar’s phone revealed that he had threatened to kill the young girl, via text messages sent to her family, if they did not pay up.

The Minya Criminal Court, headed by Counselor Suleiman Atta Al-Shahed, sentenced the defendant to death by hanging over the gruesome murder after having determined that it was premeditated.

It was unclear at the time of writing if the sentence had been carried out.