JEDDAH: The Court of First Instance at the Jeddah Criminal Court issued a death sentence against a man accused of sexually abusing a Saudi boy with Down Syndrome.
The criminal department of the Appeals Court later dismissed the verdict for lack of evidence and sentenced the accused to two years in prison and 200 lashes. The prosecutor and the family of the victim objected to the verdict and called for the death penalty for the defendant, a local publication reported.
A judicial source said the family of the boy with Down Syndrome filed a lawsuit in the Criminal Court accusing the driver who had been working with the family for three months of assaulting their disabled son.
In evidence, the boy’s sister said she was surprised one day because her disabled brother suffered from pain and was unable to sit or move normally. When she asked him what was wrong, he took the driver’s name.
The parents were abroad at the time and so she took her bother to a doctor who told her, after examining the boy, that her brother had been raped. She then reported the matter to the police.
When their father returned, the driver was interrogated by the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution. He denied all charges and accused the girl of lying because he had refused to drive her around.
Forensic medicine proved the boy had been raped but no substantial evidence implicated the driver.
Lawyer Ahmad Al-Qahtani said death sentences only applied in certain cases, including sexual assault by force and coercion, seducing young boys and abusing them. He said the death sentence was issued only if conclusive evidence proved the accusations.
The criminal department of the Appeals Court later dismissed the verdict for lack of evidence and sentenced the accused to two years in prison and 200 lashes. The prosecutor and the family of the victim objected to the verdict and called for the death penalty for the defendant, a local publication reported.
A judicial source said the family of the boy with Down Syndrome filed a lawsuit in the Criminal Court accusing the driver who had been working with the family for three months of assaulting their disabled son.
In evidence, the boy’s sister said she was surprised one day because her disabled brother suffered from pain and was unable to sit or move normally. When she asked him what was wrong, he took the driver’s name.
The parents were abroad at the time and so she took her bother to a doctor who told her, after examining the boy, that her brother had been raped. She then reported the matter to the police.
When their father returned, the driver was interrogated by the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution. He denied all charges and accused the girl of lying because he had refused to drive her around.
Forensic medicine proved the boy had been raped but no substantial evidence implicated the driver.
Lawyer Ahmad Al-Qahtani said death sentences only applied in certain cases, including sexual assault by force and coercion, seducing young boys and abusing them. He said the death sentence was issued only if conclusive evidence proved the accusations.
