JEDDAH: Police have said that the call to prayer from a mosque neighboring the home of the man accused of raping 13 young girls in Jeddah enabled police to close in on the suspect. Ali Al-Ghamdi, head of Jeddah Police, told Al-Hayat Arabic daily that the man's last reported victim, a nine-year-old girl, told investigators she could “clearly recognize” the muezzin's voice, and that the information matched other clues leading in the suspect's direction. Al-Ghamdi said the case had now been passed on to the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution. “We have gathered sufficient evidence to prove that he is guilty,” he said. “We have the results of DNA analyses and he has been formally recognized by victims.” Al-Ghamdi added that no previously unknown cases related to the suspect, who targeted his victims over a period of three years, have been registered. Saudi Gazette reported Friday that the suspect was employed as a schoolteacher and that he could be responsible for a further three abductions and rapes. Al-Watan quoted police sources as saying that three new victims, all Saudis and aged between six and nine, had emerged, but that their families “do not wish to report the cases formally as they are worried about the consequences for the victims because of traditions and social norms”. The suspect reportedly denies all the charges against him.
