CAIRO: In yet a new twist in the case of the killing spree that took place in Shams El Din Bani Mazar in El Menia that rocked the country, the accused murderer’s family has finally spoken out, confirming popular belief that the man standing trial is not the same person that killed 10 people.
According to an interview with the Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, the father of the accused, Aly Abdel Latif, declared that his son was coerced into confessing to a crime he did not commit.
In his interview, which was stopped many times because he was crying to the point of incoherence, Abdel Latif finally told his side of the story.
The day after the murders, the police arrived at Abdel Latif’s family home, where they were quick to arrest his son, Mohammed Abdel Latif, 27, and take him to the police station, he said.
At the police station, Mohamed Abdel Latif was charged with the murder of 10 people – three families – the night before. According to his father, Abdel Latif was severely beaten by police in order to get him to confess. When he continued to maintain his innocence, the police, according the accused’s father, took severe measures.
Several members of Abdel Latif’s family, including a number of female relatives, were taken into police custody, where they were kept for a number of days. When that didn’t work, “the person in charge, according to the father, then threatened to rape the women in Abdel Latif’s family.
Finally, after a mountain of threats, physical abuse and growing pressure, Abdel Latif was browbeaten into signing a confession, his father said.
In order to make his confession stick, according to the father, Abdel Latif was then trained by police to reenact the crime, including learning to climb the wall leading to the roofs of the houses (the murderer allegedly gained entrance to the houses through their roofs), a task which was difficult for Abdel Latif, his father added.
In regard to official statements that his son has schizophrenia, an issue that has plagued the nation as to its validity, Abdel Latif claims that his son suffers from no more than a mild depression, for which he was taking medication.
At a press conference organized by El Menia parliamentary representative Talaat El Sadat, Abdel Latif’s father said that high-ranking police officials met with him and told him that if he could get his son to confess to the heinous crimes he was charged with, they would get a hospital certificate claiming his son was mentally ill.
Aly Abdel Latif’s declaration belies the statements made by the Ministry of Interior Affairs that revealed the accused was suffering from “imbalanced with irrational and unrealistic behavior, and was receiving treatment for his illness by three psychiatrists in El Menia and Cairo.
Abdel Latif’s declaration also managed to strike a chord with the community, which didn’t swallow the ministry’s official statement.
“I knew this guy was innocent, says Sabah El Sayed, a cook. “Just look at the way he was reenacting the crime on TV. That doesn’t look like a killer.
The live television interview with Abdel Latif, which took place shortly after his confession and served to heighten the nations suspicion, found Abdel Latif mimicking the crime on national television in what could be described as a cool, if somewhat robotic demeanor.
* In his televised interview, Abdel Latif could only shrug his shoulders in answer to the question that has plagued the mind of the nation since the case broke, as to why he committed the crime, stating simply, “I don’t know why.
Abdel Latif’s ‘beats me’ attitude is also at odds with his typecast schizophrenia.
“Schizophrenia doesn’t affect the person’s memory, said Dr. Nasser Loza, a consultant psychiatrist and the director of the Behman Hospital, to The Daily Star Egypt. “Schizophrenic patients are capable of remembering their actions. Besides, they don t pose a significant danger to society. Mass violence (for schizophrenics) is rare.
According to Al Wafd newspaper, Abdel Latif could not have been schizophrenic if he committed such an organized crime. According to official reports, the wounds inflicted upon the victims were done using the same weapons and in the same, swift style.
Radwa Abdel Azzim, a psychiatrist, agrees with this, pointing out to The Daily Star Egypt that the “schizophrenic profile doesn’t fit with the precision in which the crime was committed.
“If he (Abdel Latif) was schizophrenic, how was he able to flee the crime scene without leaving any evidence? said El Sayed. “Unless he is a seasoned murderer, how was he able to kill all these people without leaving any evidence in any of the houses and without waking anybody up.
Al-Wafd also pondered the same question. According to them, a mental patient with a “vision (as official reports claim Abdel Latif said) ordering him to kill his victims should by all means have given leeway to sloppy work.
The newspaper also claims that the people of Shams El Din village are moving out of their homes because they believe the real killer is still on the loose.
Both the newspaper and El Sayed believe that Abdel Latif is a scapegoat used to hide the ministry’s inability to capture the murderer.
“[The police] think we’re stupid, that we don’t realize this is just a hoax, says El Sayed. “Now we know he was innocent all along.
While the confession of the accused murderer’s father does not get Abdel Latif off the hook, it does add a bizarre twist to what is still in people’s minds; an unsolved mystery.
