JEDDAH: The criminal court in Makkah has rejected the public prosecutor’s demands to impose the death sentence on a citizen who killed his four-month-old boy and beat up his wife. His wife died while trying to run away from him after being involved in a traffic accident on the Makkah-Taif highway.

The defendant was sentenced to 15 years in jail and 1,500 lashes for killing an infant, causing the death of his wife, taking drugs and driving a car while under the effect of toxins in addition to trying to escape from the police.

According to the prosecution, the incident happened when the 30-year-old husband was driving his car alongside the flood road, while under the influence of narcotics. He began to beat up the infant and threw him out of the running car. His wife tried to run away from him and sought the help of passers-by but was run over by a speeding truck on the highway.

The husband ran away to a village next to Smouha where a police patrol stopped him and discovered that he was under the influence of narcotics.

A police officer stepped out of the car to investigate the matter when he saw blood on the clothes of the driver. The driver tried to run away, but the police chased and arrested him in a state of hysteria, Okaz newspaper reported.