RIYADH: A Saudi man who rented a car for a friend who died along with his four passengers in a joyriding accident tried to claim the car was stolen, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported yesterday.
Police said in a statement that the man went to Al-Suwaidi police station after learning of the accident and claimed the car that he had rented had been stolen.
He said thieves broke a window to gain entry into the vehicle, which he had parked in front of a mosque in Al-Suwaidi.
Police said he didn’t report the theft until about 24 hours after the accident. The Saudi said the reason for the delay in reporting the car stolen was that he was waiting for the rental office to open so he could obtain proof that he had rented the car.
Police suspected the story was wrong when they couldn’t find broken glass at the location where the car was allegedly stolen. Authorities said they later determined that the man was lying, and that he rented the car for a friend so the friend could drive the vehicle recklessly.
The man later confessed under more scrutiny of his story that he rented the car for a friend for a SR1,000 fee and that he knew the friend was planning to use the car in illegal competitive stunt driving, known in Saudi Arabia as joyriding. Police have transferred the case to prosecutors to determine the man’s fault in the fatal accident.
Joyriding has resulted in numerous deaths of young Saudi men in recent years. The problem has become so bad that some citizens and judges have suggested harsh punishments, including death, based on the Islamic judicial concept of ta’zir, under which judges may prescribe harsh punishments for crimes they consider to be corrupting society.
In February, an appeals court sentenced Faisal Al-Otaibi, a Saudi naval officer found guilty of causing the death of three boys in a stunt-driving accident in 2005, sentenced to 3,000 lashes, 20 years in prison and a lifetime ban on driving.
The General Court in Jeddah had convicted Al-Otaibi, known in the local media as Abu Kab, and sentenced him to death.
