Two alleged kidnappers stopped off for a PCR Covid-19 test at a health centre before torturing their teenage victim, the High Criminal Court heard.
The Bahrainis, aged 27 and 30, accused a 19-year-old of being a police informant and made him wait as they took turns in finding out if they had caught the virus.
They appeared in court for the first time and denied charges of kidnap and torture as details of the alleged incident were presented.
The men were said to have taken the young Bahraini to Malkiya health centre in November last year and when he attempted to flee they caught up with him and forced him back into their car.
They then allegedly stabbed him with a knife and took him to a horse stable in the same area, before assaulting him again with a water hose and cruelly burning his fingers using a lighter.
The men were said to have threatened to kill him if he did not confess on video to snitching on the 27-year-old defendant over a drugs-related issue.
His ordeal came to an end by a stroke of good fortune when a passing police patrol car spotted him in distress near the stable and officers rushed to his rescue, the court heard.
The victim told prosecutors that he was doing a pal serving a sentence behind bars a favour by initially arranging to meet the 27-year-old. “My friend told me to go to calm him down because they had a dispute and he could not solve it because he was in prison.
“I then got into their vehicle before they went to take a PCR test. I waited in the vehicle and they told me that I could not leave because I owed them money, which is not true.
“I then understood that I was being kidnapped. I was scared and managed to temporarily flee on foot before they caught up with me because I was wearing military boots due to volunteering to take courses in the BDF.”
The victim described how he was taken to a barn and tortured by the defendants when he refused to confess to being a police informant.
“The defendants then took me to a horse stable in Malkiya and accused me of snitching on the 27-year-old,” he added. “I did not know anything about it but they threatened to kill me if I did not confess on a video.
“They said that I snitched on the whole village and within a month everyone that I had met would get arrested.
“They burnt me using a lighter and assaulted me using a water hose. I was in pain but I was rescued by police after a patrol vehicle spotted me being tortured outside the facility.”
The trial has been adjourned until Monday for review.
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