JEDDAH, 23 November 2005 — A six-year-old girl was brutally tortured and was mutilated, allegedly by her stepmother, Al-Watan reported yesterday. The first grader at Taif’s 57th Elementary School was taken to hospital by teachers after she came to school completely traumatized.
Her teacher noticed burns on her hands and bruises on her shoulders and other parts of her body. Al-Watan said that the teachers were shocked by the brutality of the child’s injuries. The school management contacted the Girls Education Department in Taif and called for an ambulance that took her to King Faisal Hospital.
The hospital notified the police department and they immediately filed a report. The hospital also made a report to the General Management of Social Security requesting them to provide the girl with immediate protection against such violence.
The child’s father, who came to the hospital later, said that he knew nothing about his daughter’s condition. He said that he came home late and that she was usually in bed. He also said that he had brought her to school and had not noticed anything unusual.
Hospital sources told Al-Watan that the child had been hit with an unidentified object that left many scars and bruises on her body, including her head.
The girl’s teacher said that she had noticed signs of parental neglect as the girl often came to school hungry, without having done her homework and that there were often bruises on her face. Yesterday, the teacher said, the girl arrived with more bruises than usual on her face. When questioned about what had happened, the child began to cry and said that her stepmother had beaten her, locked her in a room and refused to feed her.
Ghurmallah Al-Zahrani, head of the Girl Student Affairs Department, broke into tears when he saw the condition of the six-year-old. He made an immediate report to Fahd ibn Muammar, mayor of Taif, and requested some immediate action to help and protect the girl.
