JEDDAH, 16 May 2004 — A two-and-a-half-year-old boy has been in a coma for over a month at King Abdul Aziz University Hospital after he was severely beaten by his father.
This is not the first time the boy was admitted to a hospital due to physical abuse. When the boy was around two years old, he was admitted to the Maternity and Children’s Hospital with concussion after his father dropped him from the top floor of his house. He was kept at the hospital until his father signed him out against medical advice.
The hospital was helpless to prevent him. It filed a report with the Social Affairs Department and the police, a copy of which Arab News has seen, requesting an investigation, but nothing was done.
Now the boy has brain damage, and the University Hospital has filed another report with the authorities.
“Each time the father takes his son to a different hospital to avoid raising suspicion and checks him out before the authorities take action,” said Fadia Enani, the director of social services at the Maternity Hospital.
It was by coincidence that she found out that the boy is at the University Hospital. “When he left our hospital he was still able to move a little; now he is completely immobile,” Enani said.
The father has divorced the mother, a non-Saudi, who has moved back to her home country. He was married to three other women before, all non-Saudi, and has five other children from them.
This boy is the youngest and for some reason has been taking the brunt of the father’s abuse.
“This man should be punished,” said Jowhara Al-Anqari, the head of the family and child committee at the National Human Rights Association. She has found out about this boy’s case and intends to follow up on it. “There have to be tough deterrents to prevent such incidents from occurring,” she said.
The family and child committee is studying the issue of child abuse to raise awareness of this growing phenomenon and recommend measures to curb it. “One of the main reasons for the increase in abuse is the absence of punishment,” Al-Anqari said.
The committee is calling for clear and enforceable regulations to protect the victims of abuse. “A person should be able to ask for help if they or someone they know is being abused and should expect an immediate response,” she said.
Currently, a person can file a complaint and police will take the victim to the Social Affairs Department, where they stay until the investigation is over and a court has ruled.
According to Al-Anqari, there is no excuse for domestic violence but several factors might contribute to it, such as ignorance of Islam’s true teachings, upbringing, drugs and alcohol, all kinds of pressures including financial and social, and psychological problems.
“We have to educate people about their rights, about Islam’s teachings on relationships and on dealing with problems in a positive way,” she said.
