JEDDAH, 14 January 2008 — The Jeddah Court has reopened the case of Faisal Al-Otaibi (Abu Kab), the joy rider who was convicted of killing three children in his car as he was performing a driving stunt. The Jeddah Court, which had handed the death sentence to the accused in its earlier verdict, has been ordered to re-examine the case as the Court of Cassation repealed the death sentence by the lower court as being too extreme for the crime.
Though the Jeddah Court began looking into the case yesterday, the judges adjourned the case to next Sunday, Al-Otaibi’s lawyer, Khaled Abu Rashed, told Arab News yesterday.
“It is wrong if anyone thinks that the reexamination of the case is a rebuttal to the judges. The reexamination is only on the basis of a right guaranteed to us by the law which we respect and the court proceeds within its provisions,” Abu Rashed explained.
Saleh Al-Ghamdi, another lawyer, said the Jeddah court postponed the case to another day because it wanted to hear from the person in the vehicle that Al-Otaibi collided with in the accident. The man was not considered a party in the case because the traffic police department declared in its report that Al-Otaibi was solely responsible for the accident, Al-Ghamdi said. Further, the committee appointed by the Makkah Governorate found that the man in the other car was not a principal party and therefore was only a witness. If the Jeddah court confirms its earlier verdict of capital punishment, the Court of Cassation is likely to reject it again and hand the case to another committee of judges for another examination, Al-Ghamdi said.
Arab News learned that the relatives of the victims of past joy riding accidents were awaiting the new verdict in the Abu Kab case. If the verdict is that Abu Kab committed homicide and deserves capital punishment, the relatives of victims of other accidents will demand the reopening of their cases as well and demand identical punishments for those responsible for their relatives’ deaths.
Abu Kab was the first joy rider to be convicted of murder. All other joy riders who have caused fatal accidents have received jail sentences ranging from six months and one year in addition to the payment of blood money to the victims’ relatives.
This case originated in 2005 when Al-Otaibi, a young naval officer, rented a car and with passengers in his vehicle performed a so-called “drifting” stunt at 120 kph that resulted in a collision with another vehicle and the death of the three passengers. The family of one of the boys forgave Al-Otaibi while the families of the other boys who were brothers, insisted on the death sentence. Opponents to the decision said the boys were all willing participants in the incident and that Al-Otaibi was not guilty of premeditation in causing their deaths, and therefore there was no capital offense under Shariah.
