Jeddah, Apr 28: The family of a Pakistani driver living in a slum on the outskirts of Jeddah is trying to help him avoid an indefinite prison term for failing to pay blood money for a two-year-old Egyptian boy he had run over with his car.
Aziz Mohammed Jaan works as a family driver for SR 1,200 per month and lives with his wife and five children, aged between one and 14. All are legal residents holding valid residency permits.
With a menial salary, Jaan is barely able to maintain the family of seven living in a remote area surrounded by valleys and mountains known as Wadi Mareq.
Speaking to Arab News at his home, Jaan said he had parked his pick-up truck in front of a Saudi restaurant in Sharafiya. When the vehicle in front of him made way, he drove forward only to hear a woman scream and learn that he had hit a 2-year-old child that he hadn’t seen due to the blind spot of the bumper.
The Egyptian boy, Ali Ahmed Adil, was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
A court in Jeddah, chaired by Judge Abdulaziz Ali Sharai, found that both parties were at fault and ordered Jaan to pay SR 150,000 in blood money to the parents of the toddlers he had accidentally killed.
Jaan appealed to the court and the parents, saying that if he was kept behind bars, he would not be able to acquire the blood money he had been ordered to pay nor would his children be left with means for survival.
The court granted him 20 days to raise the money with the help of Hizbullah Mohammed Amin, president of Shah Faisal welfare group, a Pakistani charity association. If Jaan fails to pay by the end of the grace period, he will be held in custody until he comes up with the amount.
Jaan’s family cannot afford education and has no access to health care. His children are illiterate and appealed for help when reporters from Arab News visited the family home.
Jaan said he is facing grave difficulty acquiring the sum, being stopped by security guards whenever he tries to enter business organizations with philanthropic wings.
Jaan has also approached the Pakistan Consulate with the same request.
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