Yanbu police have arrested the father and started a probe into the case, Al-Madinah newspaper reported on Thursday.
The man reportedly told investigating officials that he had no intention to kill the boy, named as Wisam, and only wanted to frighten his son for not obeying him.
Wisam’s mother, a divorcee, and her four daughters have called for the death sentence if the father is found guilty. “We are satisfied with nothing other than the death penalty for him. The man killed not only Wisam but virtually all of us, and so we can never forgive him,” she said.
The mother, an Egyptian, accused her former husband of taking revenge on Wisam for obeying her. “Wisam was living with his father at the time of the crime. The man said the boy should obey him only. He was angry with Wisam for leaving the house frequently without his permission,” she said.
“Wisam’s father threatened me over the phone that he would kill the boy for not listening to him. The phone call came the day he killed him.”
Still haunted by the nightmare of the horrendous act, she said the man had agreed with Wisam to take him to a fun city on Tuesday. “The man took Wisam to an amusement park at a major commercial center. After some time, he went to the park to take him home but could not find him. He also could not reach him by phone,” she said.
The man then went to the residential building where Wisam’s mother and siblings are living. “When the man saw Wisam in front of our house, he attacked him first with a wooden stick and then with a knife. My daughter saw Wisam in a pool of blood when she opened the front door of our house,” she said.
The woman said that she screamed out for help when she saw her son. “A nearby shop owner rushed to my help to take Wisam to hospital. But he breathed his last in my lap before reaching the hospital,” she said adding that Wisam was the only hope for her and her daughters in their hour of distress. “We have lost our mahram (male guardian) and a future breadwinner,” she said.
Recalling her married life with the man, Wisam’s mother said she and her children were victims of continuous harassment and torture. “I had to suffer severe physical and psychological problems due to his torture. My uterus was removed following serious health problems as a result of his abuse,” she said.
The Egyptian woman accused the man of attempting to kill them earlier. “Once, he was about to pour fuel on us to burn us alive. But we had been rescued, thanks to the intervention of police forces,” she said. According to the woman, the father always threatened to kill her children and brothers, as well as trying to deport her.
Earlier, she approached Yanbu Shariah court seeking custody of her five children and a verdict was awarded in her favor in 2008, after her divorce. “Even though I approached the local authorities seeking protection of my children and myself from the man, we did not receive it,” she said.
The woman is struggling to meet ends meet in the absence of a fixed income. “I earn a livelihood by preparing some meals at home and then selling them to people in the neighborhood,” she said.
