Minor gets reduced jail term

TDT| Manama

A Bahraini minor, who joined others in arson and road-blocking on Budaiya Highway earlier this year, received yesterday a reduced sentence of one year’s imprisonment, considering his young age. The 17-year-old boy was sentenced by the Fourth High Criminal Court.

Case details showed that the defendant was among a group of around 10 individuals on the highway near Al Markh village, where they used burning wooden furniture and tyres to block the busy road last February. A police patrol vehicle shortly reached the spot and a policeman, the prosecution witness, ran after the defendant and was able to catch him.

The minor was arrested and handed over to Budaiya Police Station. The court decided to issue a reduced punishment against the defendant considering his age, as per Articles 70 and 71 of the Kingdom’s Penal Code, which reads: “Subject to the cases set forth in the Law, extenuating justifications shall be deemed to include the minor age of the accused, who shall be more than 15 but less than 18 years of age, and committing the offence for honorable motives or objectives or as a consequence of serious provocation by the victim who has no legal right to do so.”

It was also mentioned in the Penal Code: “If there is an extenuating justification for an offence punishable by death sentence, the penalty shall be reduced to a jail sentence or imprisonment for at least one year. If the penalty for such offence is life or term imprisonment, it shall be reduced to the punishment for a misdemeanour unless the law otherwise provides.”