Saudi man’s jail term reduced

Manama: A Saudi man convicted of trying to kill his wife and sister-in-law has had his jail term reduced to one year. He was earlier handed down three years behind the bars.

The 26-year-old defendant was jailed despite the wife waiving her right to prosecute him on account of giving birth to a baby from him.

The 20-year-old woman earlier told prosecutors that her husband had poured petrol in their East Riffa apartment and set it ablaze last August while she was at home with her sister.

She said the incident had started when they got into a heated argument over her husband’s drinking habits.

“I was at my sister’s home in East Riffa when he came knocking at 10pm after I ignored his repeated phone calls,” she explained, “I opened the door and he barged into the apartment shouting and asking me why I was ignoring his phone calls.

“I tried to escape from his grip, but he twisted my arm. At that time, my sister came to rescue me and kicked him out. Then I went to sleep, but around 5am my sister woke me up because the apartment was set on fire by my husband. We were nearly killed in the blaze and I was left with an arm injury when I fell unconscious due to smoke inhalation,” she added.