An Asian driver who used to transport school students in his private car was sentenced to one-year jail and deportation for sexually assaulting an eight-year-old boy. The appeals court endorsed the verdict after all charges against the defendant were proved. Statistics published by Al-Watan Arabic daily said Jeddah recorded the largest number of hiraba cases (waging war against society or killing noncombatants) during the last Hijrah year as they reached 323 cases including robbery, threatening by weapon, rape, sexual assault, drug trafficking, etc. Legal consultant and lawyer Saleh Al-Ghamdi said the hiraba punishment was imposed on the convicted driver for threatening his victim. "Hiraba cases include crimes such as highway robbery, terrorism, rape, murder and frightening people with weapons," he added. Speaking about the assault case, a judicial source said the man transported children to school. The boy had told investigators that the driver sexually assaulted him several times at a lonely place after dropping other students at their homes. "Once the child shouted while the driver approached him, then the driver threatened him that if he informs parents he would be punished," the source told the Arabic daily.
