JEDDAH: A Pakistani driver is expected to face trial early next month at the Jeddah Summary Court for allegedly raping, videotaping and blackmailing a young Jeddah girl. The court received the case file Sunday. The man was the driver for a female college student. He is accused of taking 15 videos of the girl naked inside the bus. The man also allegedly asked her to spend more time with him and his friends, wanted money, threatened he would publish her photos online and send some to her father if she did not comply. The prosecutor, in a four-page statement, has demanded a severe and deterrent punishment related to the private right, and for the use of the Information Technology Crimes Act in terms of the public right. Turki Bin Dhafer Al-Qarni, the Summary Court judge, ordered his detention at the general prison. According to the case file, the defendant, Isa, 25, a married and educated Jeddah resident, was arrested after the girl reported the alleged assault to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Al-Baghdadiya District. In her report, she claimed that the defendant used to drive her and her classmates to and from college, and that she was the last one to be dropped. Once, when she was the only student in the tinted bus, he allegedly drove to a secluded location, raped her and filmed the assault. He then later blackmailed her and threatened to send the photos to her father, she claimed. The man was arrested inside the bus when he was about to again allegedly rape her. The Hai'a seized three mobile phone sets from the defendant, which were found to have naked photos of the girl, videos of her being raped and of her begging him to stop and trying to cover her face. He was also allegedly shown shouting at her and telling her to leave her face open. According to current legislation, anyone who films, photographs or produces materials that are related to a person's life can be imprisoned up to five years and fined up to SR5 million, in addition to other penalties for blackmail. Ali Al-Kinaki, a Ministry of Social Affairs consultant, said it was important to reconsider hiring conditions for drivers of female students in the private sector. These drivers should ideally be Saudis over the age of 50, accompanied by their wives.
