Okaz/Saudi Gazette

MAKKAH — In a gruesome act, a Saudi citizen in Makkah’s Al-Malawi district slaughtered his three little daughters and tried to kill his wife before neighbors came to her rescue.

The killer father gave himself up to the police after the crime.

The police did not identify the man but said he was a 33-year-old security guard, who was a drug addict. They identified the three daughters as 2-year-old Ritaj, 4-year-old Rimaz and 6-year-old Renad.

The assassin told the police that he could not sleep for three nights because of differences with his Nigerian wife who wanted him to spend more money on his daughters so he slaughtered all three of them with a knife.

He admitted that he killed his three young daughters, tried to kill his wife and decided to commit suicide by jumping off Al-Rawda bridge near his home but he gave up the idea and called the security patrol.

His neighbors said the man was not suffering from any psychological disturbances.

One of the neighbors said he heard the wife’s cry for help so he went to her house to find the three daughters soaked in blood and the woman suffering from various injuries.

He said he pulled the wife away from her husband who had already stabbed her five times.

The neighbors took the hysterical wife to King Faisal Hospital in Al-Shesha where she was sedated and released afterwards to give her testimony to the police.

Her aunt said she brought her up after she was orphaned and married her to the man who did not show any signs of violence.

One of the neighbors said the police arrested the man about a month ago for attempt to commit domestic violence but was released on bail.

Mohammed Shafiq, who runs a grocery store under the house, said the man did not go out for his work lately but he was peaceful and quiet. He said the assassin used to buy grocery on loan which he regularly repaid. “The last amount he paid was SR700 but he still owes me some money,” he said.

Shafiq said two days back the man came to him asking for a loan of SR20 to take his daughters for a picnic. “I gave him the money and he returned it the next day,” he added.

He said the last time he saw the three girls was on Sunday when they bought candies and went back home.

Such killings, although gruesome and inhuman, are not new.

In 2017, a man in Jeddah killed his son, daughter and pregnant wife in Al-Muntazahat district.

The same year, a man in his 40s killed two of his sons and his wife with a knife.

In Abha, a man stabbed his 12-year-old son to death at the entrance of their building.

In Makkah in 2016, a man shot his 18-month-old child and in Yanbu a man stabbed his 15-year-old son to death. In Al-Qamriyah district in Taif the same year a man killed his three children.