JEDDAH — A Saudi man accused of sexually assaulting a little girl has been questioned by the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution, Al-Hayat reported. A source said the man was in his 30s and the victim was 9. The man lived in the same apartment building as the little girl and he would allegedly meet her by the staircase and attempt to cuddle her. “He took her to his apartment and tried to rape her but she managed to escape and tell her mother,” the source said. He said the man has been under investigation for the past week and the father will attend one of the interrogation sessions to hear the man's defense. The girl's mother informed him that the neighbor had sexually assaulted their daughter, he said in a report he submitted to police. In a statement recorded in the report, the father said: “I wasn't at home during the time of the attack. “My daughter was crying to her mother after she had escaped his multiple advances on her. “When I came home and realized what happened, I went outside to stand by the apartment building's door. I saw a man come down the stairs and his expression caught my suspicion. “I stopped him and asked my daughter if this was the man who assaulted her and she said yes through tears.” The father added he confronted the man and asked him if his daughter's accusations were true. “He began physically assaulting me and I had to defend myself. Our neighbors in the other apartments came out and began helping me. “That's when I called the police and they came and took him away. I am pressing charges against him for sexually assaulting my daughter, the emotional trauma he caused her and my family, the fear and insecurity he instilled in our neighbors and for physically assaulting me.” The father wants the man to be given the death sentence if the charges are proven.
