Saudi national gets 15 years jail for planting bomb

Manama : A Saudi national’s 15 years’ jail term for planting two homemade bombs in Adliya has been upheld by an appeal court.

The defendant is said to have planted one of the devices near a garbage bin beside the Dilmun School in 2012. A Gulf City Cleaning Company worker, Dhana Ram Sainin, was grievously injured in the blast. 

The second bomb was placed near an electricity generator 10 meters away. However, the bomb squad later defused it. Four Bahrainis were already convicted in this case. They were all jailed for 15 years each for detonating the explosive device that injured Sainin. 

The fifth person’s involvement came into light when the police managed to unearth an unknown person’s DNA from the crime scene. 

Incidentally, the defendant’s identity was revealed when a court ordered him to undergo a DNA test in a parentage case in which his ex-wife sued him for refusing to admit the paternity of her child. When tested, the 45-year-old man’s DNA matched with that obtained from the crime scene. He was later arrested and charged in connection with the blast.  

He had earlier pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, possessing and using explosives and spreading panic.