JEDDAH: Bayan, a five-year-old girl, died in Tabuk on Sunday after allegedly being tortured by her father.
According to Col. Saleh Al-Harbi, official spokesman for the Tabuk police, the man, who is 32 years old, beat his daughter mercilessly with an electric cable a day before her death.
“Apparently the man is suffering from psychological problems and he is also a drug addict,” said Al-Harbi.
Bayan and her two siblings, an eight-year-old brother and a nine-year-old sister, lived with their father after he divorced their mother three years ago.
The man’s reason for beating his daughter was her persistent refusal to listen to him.
“The man’s brother found his niece dead the next morning and immediately reported the matter to the police. The man was taken into custody for questioning,” Al-Harbi told Arab News by phone. “Bayan was taken to the morgue of King Fahd General Hospital. More details will be revealed after an autopsy,” he added.
The saga of child abuse seems to be unending in the Kingdom. Three days ago, Layla, a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly physically abused by her father, was admitted to King Abdulaziz Specialist Hospital in Taif after suffering multiple injuries and acute renal complications.
A Saudi couple, convicted of killing their nine-year-old daughter Ghosun in 2006 after torturing her for a year, were executed in Makkah early this year.
Ghosun, Nashaat Ahmed Haji’s daughter from a previous marriage, had been chained to a window sill and on one occasion she was denied food and water for three consecutive days. Haji hit the girl with his car while she was in the courtyard of the house. All this was done to get rid of the girl simply because he had suspicions that Ghosun was not his lawful daughter.
