JEDDAH: Police here have taken custody of a Saudi man in his 30s after turning himself in for murdering an illegal alien Somali cab driver nine months ago in Jeddah, police said. The incident was caused by a dispute over a SR10 taxi fare, police added. The Saudi man turned himself to police in Najran, where he fled, because he suffered from a guilty conscience after stabbing the man in the abdomen and leaving him bleeding on Prince Mit'eb Street in Jeddah, police said. The man told the police that he turned himself in because he was seeing the victim in nightmares every night, which caused great suffering. When examined, investigators found that the suspect was suffering from an acute psychiatric disorder. First Lt. Nawaf Al-Bouq, acting spokesman of Jeddah Police, confirmed that police have received the man from authorities in Najran and said he has confessed. The suspect also led investigators to the location where the victim's body was found. Al-Bouq said the suspected murderer surrendered because he feared punishment and had a desire “to purify himself.” Nine months ago, the police started investigations when they found bloodstains on a street lamp post near the place where the body was found. Traffic police noticed that there were no tire marks and that the man had a deep wound in the abdomen, which confirmed the existence of foul play. The scene was cordoned off and evidence, including fingerprints, was collected, police said. The suspected murderer could not be located, which led investigators to consider several possibilities. They looked into whether the body was dumped there from a car passing through the area; if the man was killed at the scene for stealing; and if the murder was a personal vendetta. The victim was not carrying identification papers, but police found the house in Al-Rabwah District where he lived and his place of work, officials said. Investigators noticed a house where Somali nationals were entering and leaving and learned that the visitors were offering condolences after his family learned about his death, but they did not inform the security authorities, officials said. On further investigation, it turned out that the victim had worked at a car wash on Prince Majed Street, near the scene where the body was found, police said. After the incident, workers at the car wash felt suspicious about the police presence there and kept away from work so security men were withdrawn from the area, according to authorities. Once the workers returned, Criminal Investigations Department men cordoned off the area and apprehended 15 workers for investigations that proved none of them were involved in the murder. After nine months, Jeddah Police received a telephone call from their counterparts in Najran saying a Saudi national had turned himself in and claimed he had committed a murder at the location where the body was found, authorities said. The Saudi national admitted that he was driving a taxi in Jeddah and agreed with the Somali man that he would pay a SR10 fare, but during the trip, he said he would pay only SR5, police said. This led the Saudi to stab the man in the abdomen; the wounded man rushed out of the car and crashed into a lamp post and the taxi driver sped away and escaped to Najran.
