A court in Bahrain has dismissed the objection of a middle-aged bachelor who beat up his cousin for protecting a battered domestic worker, then threatened him with a knife and broke his femur (thigh bone).
In March this year, the Bahraini defendant was found guilty in absentia of unintentionally inflicting a seven per cent disability on his cousin and was sentenced to three years in prison.
The Bahraini cousin, who lives right next door to the objector, was the second defendant in the original case, and was fined BD50 for assaulting his relative.
“The court is treating this objection as if it was never made,” read the latest High Criminal Court verdict.
The objection was completely dismissed because the defendant once again declined to appear before judges, signing a form from prison refusing to be brought to the courthouse.
The GDN earlier reported the cousin’s testimony, in which he recalled hearing screams coming from his uncle’s house next door, and ran to the scene.
Both the defendants are aged 52, and live in two attached houses in Hoora owned by their fathers.
“I also heard the maid screaming, so I went into the house, where I witnessed my cousin (objector) assaulting her, and he appeared to be intoxicated,” he told the Public Prosecution.
“I took him out of the house so we could talk, and on the street, he told me he’d kill me while wielding a knife.
“I heard the maid scream again, which distracted me, then the objector struck me with the knife on my right ear, which wounded me, then I fell to the ground.
“He attacked me while I was down, falling on my left leg and causing it to twist, and I fainted.”
A friend of the victim witnessed the entire incident, as he was waiting outside in the car as they were planning to go out. He testified to seeing the cousins sitting outside talking, then they got up and began fighting, and he saw his friend falling, after which he called an ambulance.
A medical report stated that the victim’s femur was broken, and that he now suffers from chronic pain, decreased mobility and difficulty moving his hip joint. As a result of the assault, he had to undergo surgery at the Salmaniya Medical Complex.
The objecting defendant earlier admitted to assaulting his cousin and causing him to fall.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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