A divorced woman in her twenties with four children has refused to leave a furnished apartment in Yanbu fearing domestic violence at the hand of her ex-husband who is lying in wait for her and the children, she said. The woman, whose name is being withheld by the newspaper, said she was afraid of sleeping outdoors after spending three months roaming around the Yanbu Corniche. The woman added that security officials have not helped her and she has not received sufficient assistance from official and charitable organizations. “I've been repeatedly beaten by my ex-husband and I have reported this several times to the security authorities,” she said from inside her apartment. The last alleged physical abuse she received was one week before the start of Ramadan. The man many times pointed a gun at her and used an iron rod to beat her, she said. “I was taken to the hospital and I was hospitalized for 15 days. I have medical reports proving that he had attempted to kill me,” she said. The woman expressed astonishment at the negligence of authorities to put a restraining order on the man to protect her from further harm. The woman said her ex-husband's harassment has prevented her from looking for a job and that she tried for four years to get a divorce and protection from security authorities. She said that her ex-husband, who is three years younger than her, is unemployed. She had two children with him and two with her first husband, from whom she got divorced several years ago. The woman said that she, her children and mother were forced to leave their home, which is owned by her mother, after it sustained considerable damage in the recent rains and floods in Yanbu. She said she had no alternative but to roam the Yanbu Corniche with her four children to find shelter among the holidaymakers. The woman said that after her divorce, she used to get SR950 per month from social security, which she stressed was not enough to provide shelter for her children. “How do they want me to provide them a house with this little amount?,” she said. “After leaving the home in Yanbu, my mother rented a small house that cannot accommodate me and my four children.” She said she submitted an application for assistance in Ramadan from the Charitable Society in Yanbu, but a female employee there told her to come after the Eid break to ask for assistance and her request would be referred to the society's administration.
