Abdulrahman Al-Ali Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — A drug addict allegedly bit off a large chunk of his wife's nose following an altercation between the two. The wife, who apparently stabbed him in the shoulder in self-defense, was admitted to King Abdulaziz Hospital where she underwent five plastic surgery procedures in order to repair her nose. She also suffered severe bruises and was beaten hard by the husband, said a medical report. Salih Al-Ghamdi, director of social protection center, Makkah province, said a committee visited the battered wife at the hospital and listened to her story. She told the committee that her husband attacked her, held her down, and kept on hitting her. She grabbed a knife from the kitchen and thrust it right into his shoulder. However, the stab drove him so crazy that he bit a big part of her nose off, she said. “The committee is following up the battered wife's case and will provide her with shelter if necessary,” Al-Ghamdi said. Meanwhile, Jeddah Police spokesman First Lt. Nawaf Al-Bouq refuted claims made by the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) that the husband was set free. “We only hold persons involved in such cases for 24 hours then we refer them to the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution, which decides on detaining them further or releasing them,” Al-Bouq said. The police arrested the husband after the hospital reported the incident and provided a medical report showing that the wife, who has children, would need at least five weeks to recover.
