MAKKAH — The family of a murder victim requested on Tuesday to sentence the alleged the murderer to death after the judge sentenced him to prison and lashings. The judge at Makkah Criminal Court sentenced a man who murdered his four-month-old infant and assaulted his wife who eventually died in a car accident during her attempt to escape from him, a court source said. He was given five years in prison for murdering the infant and 10 years in prison and 1,500 lashes for assaulting his wife and causing her death, the source added. "The incident took place last year when the man was driving under the influence of drugs on Taif-Makkah Highway. The man suddenly began to hit and bite the infant. He then chucked the baby out of the car window. His wife escaped from the car and tried to look for help but was hit by a speeding truck," said the source. The source said the man escaped from the scene and came to a checkpoint. "The police officers at the checkpoint noticed that the man was in hysteric and inspected him closely to notice blotches of blood on his clothes and on the front seat. The man escaped once again and the police notified the next checkpoint, where he was arrested. "The man kept on mumbling hysterically, 'I killed the child'," said the source. The source said the public prosecutor sought the death penalty for his gruesome crime but the judge sentence the man to imprisonment and lashing. The family of the victims has submitted a private right lawsuit seeking the death penalty and the penal court is looking into the lawsuit.
