JEDDAH, 31 March 2005 — The police have apprehended two teenagers suspected of kidnapping and raping a 23-year-old woman as she was heading to an evening school in Jeddah’s Al-Aziziyah district last Saturday,
According to police sources, the two suspects have been transferred to the investigation and prosecution department.
Police also arrested a third man who works for a telephone company and was accused by the woman’s father to be part of the criminal act.
The victim’s father said that the two teenagers attacked his daughter and raped her after beating her up brutally in the street while she was walking with her sister to school.
The father added that the youths who were driving a red car stopped near the woman and started harassing her.
When the woman asked them to leave her alone and warned them against touching her, one of the men stepped out of the car and forced her into the vehicle and drove away in front of her sister.
The sister then called her 20-year-old brother and told him what had happened.
The brother spotted the car in the neighborhood and stopped the young men. The men then beat the brother up until he became unconscious and fled with the woman.
The woman was then abandoned in the street unconscious after being beaten up and raped by the two young men.
The victim’s father stated that she was taken for medical check-up, but was annoyed that it involved only the bruises and scars but did not include her private parts.
The father identified the accused criminals from the car they used which was owned by the youths’ friend in the neighborhood.
Brig. Mohammed Al-Malki, head of Alshamaliya police station who investigated the case, said that it is an honor case and that it has been transferred to the investigation and prosecution department. He said the young men, who were released on bail, will face charges after investigation.
