year-old stunt driver famously known as Abu Kaab (or the guy with the cap), was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and 3,000 lashes Monday for causing the death of three teenage boys. The boys were riding with him during a 2005 night driving stunt that went all wrong when Abu Kaab's rented car crashed into an oncoming car in northern Jeddah Corniche. The sentence against navy officer Faisal Al-Otaibi, the stunt driver, was passed by the Jeddah Summary Court The court ruled that it was not just a traffic violation, but a crime. Abu Kaab's attorney Khaled Al-Rashed said that the verdict was too harsh and he would file an appeal within a month of officially receiving the ruling. However, Badr Khethela, the father of the two boys killed in the incident, said the punishment was too lenient. He wants capital punishment for Abu Kaab. The father has reportedly said that Abu Kaab kidnapped his sons and they were not friends of his. “It has been three years of deliberating the case in 22 hearing seesions, and justice will take its due course,” said the plaintiff's lawyer Saleh Al-Ghamdi. Three judges who looked into the case earlier had handed down the death penalty for Abu Kaab. But after a review of the verdict, the Cassation Court, which endorses the death penalty, rejected the verdict and ordered a re-trial on the grounds that the death penalty was too extreme for a case involving accidental death. The ‘crime' The three judges based their decision on the “crime” that Abu Kaab had committed leading to the death of three innocent people, and also the oath he had broken after having sworn on graduation from the military college to save people's lives. According to the traffic report, Abu Kaab was driving at 180 kmph, doing an extreme stunt ride when his vehicle flipped over and crashed into an oncoming car. Two brothers Ahmad Badr Khethela, 15, and Abdulaziz, 14, and Ibrahim Fahd Al-Suhail, 18, were killed in the accident. Two other people were injured in the incident Ziad Al-Mutairi, 20, and Faisal Al-Mutairi, 20. The report found Abu Kaab cent percent responsible for the incident, blaming him for taking the lives of innocent people and failing to observe the traffic laws for public safety. Abu Kaab was found to have a record of 66 previous traffic violations. The parents of Ibrahim Al-Suhail dropped their right to pursue the case against Abu Kaab and declined to receive blood money, asking only for reward from Allah for dropping the case.
