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A British airline pilot was jailed for 20 years today after being found guilty of murdering his daughter while intoxicated by drinks and drugs at a luxury hotel in Kazakhstan.
Airbus captain Mohamed Barakat, 42, “crushed brains” and fractured the skull of one-year-old Sophia, hitting her head against a wall, according to a court.
A Kazakh judge rejected the London-born pilot’s claim that the boy was fatally injured in an ‘accident’ resulting from an epileptic seizure.
His 23-year-old wife Madina, who had changed her initial testimony blaming Barakat for the baby’s death and asked the judge to find him not guilty, was crying as she listened to today’s verdict.
British pilot Mohamed Barakat, photographed with his wife Madina, was found guilty of murdering their daughter Sophia and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Barakat, a pilot employed by a subsidiary of Hong Kong Airlines, will serve his entire jail sentence in the Kazakhstan prison, judicial authorities said.
Upon his release, he will be barred from entering the country for five years.
His guilt was proven “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,” said a statement issued by press secretary Abay Zharylkasyn.
Madina had earlier fled the hotel room after Barakat beat her, according to witnesses.
CCTV evidence showed how she later brought the baby into the lobby of the five-star InterContinental Hotel in Almaty in the early morning of October 24 last year.
Ten witnesses recounted how she claimed her husband had killed the boy, the judge said. The baby was “immobile” and “blue” in color.
Madina collapsed several times in the lobby when staff called doctors who found the baby to be dead.
Madina, pictured with her daughter Sophia, changed her initial testimony to unsuccessfully plead with the Kazakh judge not to imprison Barakat.
Madina had yelled: “He killed my daughter, he beat her,” according to a member of the hotel staff.
But then he reversed his earlier testimony, saying: ‘I have no claims against my spouse Mohamed Barakat.
“He couldn’t hurt our son and, furthermore, he wasn’t able to commit the crime.
Madina and Mohamed photographed on their wedding day
‘I ask that you accept this statement as the basis for canceling all 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.’
She pleaded: ‘You would probably think what kind of woman am I who protects her spouse who supposedly killed the child.
“However, this was not an intentional crime, he is simply not capable of causing harm, especially to Sophia.”
What happened at the hotel ‘could only have been wrongful death during an epileptic seizure.
Mohamed would not hesitate to lay down his life for Sophia. She was everything to him … It was an accident. ‘
Despite this, Barakat was found guilty at the virtual hearing in Almaty city court on Tuesday, looking stunned by the verdict when he appeared on Zoom.
The injuries were caused by “repeated impacts with hard surfaces and objects, and could not be obtained from a fall,” Judge Bakhytkhan Bakirbayev said.
There was “no evidence” that Barakat had previously suffered from epilepsy, he said.
Barakat received the maximum penalty under the penal code for the ‘aggravating circumstance’ of committing the murder ‘in a state of alcohol and drug intoxication,’ the statement said.
The trial heard evidence that the Airbus captain, who was flying cargo planes at the time of the incident, had a secret cache of cannabis in his hotel room and had previously taken cocaine.
The pilot was also ordered to pay his wife compensation of £ 135, a sum that would likely have been significantly higher if she had filed a civil lawsuit against him.
CCTV footage showed Madina Barakat, 23, carrying her ‘blue’ and ‘immobile’ daughter Sophia through the lobby of the InterContinental Hotel in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Madina leaves the girl at the reception desk as a security guard approaches. She reversed an earlier statement and denied blaming Barakat for killing her daughter.
He was given 15 days to appeal the conviction and sentence.
Barakat had previously told the court: ‘Just because you have the power to put me in prison does not mean that you have the power to hold me guilty.
It means that you will put an innocent man in prison.
He said: ‘I would never hurt my own daughter. I was the first person to see Sophia come into this world … ‘I was going to teach her to fly …’
Barakat’s legal team claimed dozens of procedural errors in the criminal investigation, and the court case meant that Barakat did not receive a fair trial.
His lawyers made repeated unsuccessful attempts to seek a new investigation and replace the judge.
The killer’s sister, Sara, said by video link from Britain that the pilot “must have been attacked.”
She said: ‘We have no doubt in our mind or in our heart that he is innocent.’
Barakat previously worked as a pilot for Malaysia’s low-cost airline AirAsia.
