ABHA, 13 December 2007 — A source in the Education Department in this southwestern city told Arab News yesterday that an elderly man working at a Qur’an school accused of sexually harassing an 11-year-old girl is going to be relocated — along with an alleged accomplice — to another job within the public school system.
It is not clear if this relocation means the men accused by the girl of lechery will continue to have contact with children.
“This is an encouraging message to perverts,” said local social worker Haila Al-Qahtani.
The education official, who did not want to be named, and Qahtani both say that the girl has accused the man of molestation, but that her father — fearing public scrutiny — has declined to press charges and has agreed to have the two accused men moved to another job off the school’s grounds.
The man, who is reportedly 80 years old, lived on the school grounds along with his wife, who is not implicated in any wrongdoing. (It’s customary in the Kingdom for schools to have caretakers that live on the school grounds in modest quarters.)
According to the education official, the girl has accused the man of luring her into his quarters with the help of an accomplice, a school guard, where he would grope and kiss her. The girl did not accuse the man of rape.
“The girl’s beauty might be what caused the caretaker to lure her (into his quarters),” the education source told Arab News. “Since there has been no concrete evidence, the father of the girl was satisfied with the administrative decision to move the two men to another location.”
Arab News learned that the girl’s mother is dead.
Qahtani said the punishment was not sufficient and would not prevent any future harassment. She said the men should at least be fired, if not investigated and imprisoned. The father’s unwillingness to pursue an investigation and possible molestation charges reflects a lager social problem, says Qahtani.
“These type of reactions ... restrict our efforts as social workers,” she said.
Col. Abdullah Al-Gharni, Asir police spokesman, said that authorities have not received any complaints from the father or education officials. He did confirm that the school has sent some kind of document — possibly an incident report — related to the case to the regional head of girl’s education, Ali Al-Musa. It was from there that the order to relocate the caretaker and his colleague to another undisclosed location within the local education system.
The case is reportedly in the hands of Asir Gov. Prince Faisal ibn Khaled for further review.
