Judicial Probe Begins in Celine Rakan's Case
The judiciary started its investigations on Wednesday into the mysterious death of the toddler girl Celine Rakan, after the case sparked a huge controversy in the country and spawned dozens of sensational media reports.
“Beirut First Examining Magistrate Ghassan Oueidat has started his investigations in the case of the child Celine Rakan by interrogating the detained Ethiopian maid in the presence of representatives from the embassy” of her country, state-run National News Agency reported.
Oueidat also heard the testimony of the child's father, who had filed a lawsuit against the Ethiopian domestic worker, NNA said.
The father – who had initially blamed an “expired vaccine” -- appeared in several TV shows last week and presented footage taken from his villa's security cameras in a bid to prove that Celine was killed by the maid.
The shocking videos and perceived contradictions in the father's remarks prompted many journalists and citizens to take to social networking websites to question the authenticity of the footage and the man's honesty.
On October 10, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi ordered an expansion of the probe and urged media outlets not to make speculations before the release of the probe's results.
The Internal Security Forces had announced that the maid “confessed to the Msaitbeh police station that she strangled to death the child Celine Rakan out of fear that she might be busted, after the toddler saw her stealing items from the house.”
The case caught public attention after the girl's father announced on Facebook that she died because of an “expired vaccine.”
She was laid to rest on October 3 in the Tyre district town of al-Shahabiyeh, her hometown.
Y.R.
M.T.
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