year-old victim of domestic violence was discharged from King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah Monday after being treated for 14 days for internal bleeding and a fractured skull allegedly caused by a severe beating from his father. The father, 40, has been detained by authorities. Mishari, 6, has left the hospital with his aunt, his father's sister, who had stayed with him at the hospital the entire period. The aunt, who did not want to be named, has asked for an urgent intervention from the Ministry of Social Affairs to protect the child from his father. This is also to prevent any further confrontation between her husband and her brother. Another aunt, who lives in Taif, has also offered to take care of the child until the Ministry of Social Affairs takes up the case. The father should not take custody of the boy until he is examined for mental health, the aunt said, emphasizing that a social protection house would be the best home for the child. Director of the Social Affairs Office in Jeddah Saeed Al-Ghamdi said that they were waiting for the final report on the case to be submitted. The office would take the necessary precautions to protect the child, he added. The boy lived with his father after his divorce from his foreign mother. “The boy was fine and had no psychological problems,” the aunt said. “The problem was with my brother who thought that his son was sexually assaulted by the boys of his ex-wife's husband. He tortured his son to get him to confess to that,” she added. She said that medical reports showed that the boy has never been sexually assaulted. The aunt lamented the weak response from the Ministry of Social Affairs, saying that the toll free number 1919 was never answered when they needed help. “'Please leave a message' is all you will get,” she said. The child cannot be taken from the custody of the father unless the court is presented with a good reason, a judicial source said. If the father is proven to be mentally unstable, custody is automatically taken away from him until he is stable again, the source added.
