For six years, Hussein Abdul Rahman Badawi, a Saudi national, has pursued legal action against a national road-maintenance company after he was partially paralyzed when his car fell into a deep hole in a road. Badawi, the breadwinner for a family comprising a wife, four girls and two boys, said the accident occurred because the hole was not filled in and no warning signs were posted. “I was returning from a recreation trip to Abha along with my family and after dropping them at our home in Al-Qunfudah, I drove to a rest house in the same town,” he said. “On my way to the rest house, I encountered a hole in the middle of the road. Later on I came to know that it was four meters deep. There were no warning signs so the car fell into it and I was paralyzed.” Since then, Badawi has been shuttling between courts in Al-Qunfudah and Khamis Mushayt. He said that despite an order from the Makkah Emir to expedite the case and deliver justice, the Al-Qunfudah court transferred the case to Khamis Mushayt under the pretext that the defendant was living there. He said the decision was made despite the fact that the company has an office in Al-Qunfudah, and that the ruling forced him to make difficult trips between the two towns. The company's owner and representative never showed up for any court sessions and the trips worsened his condition, said Badawi, who fractured his sixth vertebrate in the crash that also left him impotent. Badawi said he traveled abroad several times seeking medical treatment, but high costs and his commitment to the court case prevented him from continuing treatment in Germany although he felt some improvement immediately after the first therapeutic session there. He hopes that his case will be resolved and pleaded to officials to help him get treatment abroad at the Ministry of Health's expense. Badawi said police told him he bore half the blame for the accident he believes is entirely due to the contractor's negligence and recklessness.
