Father of Abha assault victim appeals verdict

The Appeals Court in Asir is examining the case of Leyan Al-Aed, a school girl who was assaulted by a classmate’s relative while returning home in a school bus in the suburbs of Abha.
The girl’s father, Amjad Al-Aed, had also complained to the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) about the assault since the trial court, he claimed, did not pay the case the attention it deserved.
Al-Aed said the girl was admitted to hospital with facial injuries, besides a serious injury to her right eye following the assault. The father is not satisfied with the 10-lash sentence and warning handed down by the Abha Criminal Court.
“I appealed to the higher court because the lower court’s verdict did not give any consideration to the degree of trauma suffered by my daughter and the pain and anguish suffered by her parents. It also did not take into account the humiliation suffered by her, because the assault took place in front of other students,” the father said.
He said there was no justification for leniency toward such behavior on grounds that the offender was a minor. “He was an adult,” Al-Aed said.
He said the case was assigned to a lower court official although the seriousness of the case required it to be handled by a judge. He also wanted the court to hand out severe punishment to the offender as a deterrent to other youths.
Ali Al-Shaabi, head of the NSHR’s Asir branch, said his organization noticed that school authorities did not take serious steps to protect youngsters from violence perpetrated by grown ups and others.