The suspect is a 42-year-old married Saudi schoolteacher with five children. His wife claimed last week that her husband was innocent.
He has since been charged with the attacks that took place since 2008 and is now in the custody of the Public Prosecution and Investigations Commission.
Um Abdullah told Al-Watan that unscrupulous people had come forward with false allegations in order to claim compensation offered by the government for rape victims.
“My grandson told me he read rumors on the Internet that many people are trying to take advantage of compensation worth about SR1 million. I think that these people are spreading lies against my son and falsely implicating him with an eye on this huge amount,” she said.
Um Abdullah has also said some of the evidence is dubious.
“Certain publications recently printed pictures supposedly of the carpet and television at my son’s house. The reports claimed the rape victims had said these carpets matched what they had seen when they were attacked. But these are false and fabricated reports,” she said, saying her son bought these carpets and the television set only 10 months ago, while the attacks began to almost three years. She said she provided new evidence that there was a conspiracy against the suspect when she testified in court.
Um Abdullah said the latest accusation was made by one of his friends.
“The man was a close friend of my son. They had a 14-year-long friendship. My son bought a car for that man. He also used to borrow money from my son,” she said.
According to the old woman, it was a lie that the friend’s daughter never visited her son’s house.
“He took his wife and daughter more than 10 times to our house located in Kilo 14 in east Jeddah. Both families lived in the neighborhood for nearly five years and everybody living in the area knows this,” she said.
“Police took more than 30 people into custody in connection with the rape charges. But none of them were indicted. A few weeks ago, mys son was asked to appear at the traffic police station to receive some papers. The call came from a police officer who was his friend. But my son was taken into custody when he arrived at the station accompanied by his wife and children.”
She also doubted the credibility of allegations that the attacks took place on the roof of the residential apartment where he is living with his wife and six children, the youngest of them only three months old.
Reacting to Um Abdullah’s claims, Omar Al-Kholi, professor of law at King Abdulaziz University, said the court is the decisive authority.
“His conviction or acquittal will be in line with the substantial evidence brought in front of the judge who examines the case,” he said, voicing displeasure over the media reporting of the case, claiming it was damaging to the suspect and his family.
