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Toddler beheaded in supermarket

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March 4, 2008 - 1:51PM

A man reportedly held a knife to the throat of his 15-month-old nephew and decapitated him in front of his mother in a Saudi Arabian supermarket.

The 25-year-old Syrian man beheaded the toddler apparently after having a dispute with the toddler's parents, his sister and brother-in-law, Arab News reported.

Another newspaper, the Saudi Gazette, reported that the toddler was 18 months old.

The killing happened in front of shoppers and staff in the fruit and vegetable section of the Al-Marhaba supermarket yesterday morning.

A police officer told Arab News: "The murderer was in a dispute with the boy's mother and her husband. He chopped off the boy's head in front of the mother to get back at her."

Another witness, Abu Muhammad, who is in his mid-60s, told the paper: "It happened so quickly. Before people could intervene, the man had cut more than half way through the child's neck."

Another local expressed his disbelief that anyone could carry out such an act.

"No one could bear the gruesome sight of the boy's decapitated body lying on the floor," Muneer, a car mechanic, told Arab News.

"How could someone do such a thing?

"I just can't understand it ... I still can't believe it."

One shopper, Ahmed Abdul-Rahman, told the Saudi Gazette: "I was shopping when I heard a scream and saw people running toward the shop's pastry corner.

"When I arrived there, I couldn't believe what I saw.

"A headless body of a child lay on the floor and the head was lying nearby soaked in blood."

The man was arrested at the supermarket, reports AFP. Murder is punishable by death in the Islamic country, and the sentence is usually carried out by beheading.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/toddle ... d=rss_news

He was either mad or bad, then, wasn't he.

spot;798201 wrote: He was either mad or bad, then, wasn't he.


And obviously dangerous to know.

sunny_bunny;799052 wrote: And obviously dangerous to know.


Someone had to say it :-6

Even after several days, I still find this crime unbelieveably shocking and disturbing, there isn't any context to put it into as I can't think of another example thats even similar. I know that of course equally terrible murders or events have occurred, the Jamie Bolger Case in England was another very disturbing case for a lot of reasons, but it was also quite different, there are also, as spot has pointed out many examples of men taking revenge by murdering children, but still, for a grown man to do something like this taking a knife and beheading a child in public, because of a family argument, in a supermarket, its mind boggling. I would have to say it must be the act of a deranged person, certainly a psychopath of some extreme form.

Bryn Mawr;799056 wrote: Someone had to say it :-6


Bloody newbies lowering the tone, eh?

Galbally;799058 wrote: I would have to say it must be the act of a deranged person, certainly a psychopath of some extreme form.


You know, I'm quite sure you're mistaken. I think it's some poor chap whose tether snapped and who had no idea at all what he was about to do, no intention of the outcome, just a spasm of utter fury and there it is, done. I think any of us can be pushed to it.

spot;799060 wrote: Bloody newbies lowering the tone, eh?


I didn't mean that, sunny_bunny, it's just a comment on me being the guy who always lowers the tone. If you've not seen how far and how fast I can sink you might not have realized that.

spot;799060 wrote: Bloody newbies lowering the tone, eh?


Not in the slightest! Damn'd near posted it myself but thought it might be too obvious for this particular thread.

Spot: shudders. Brr. How would you live with yourself afterwards? I don't approve of the death penalty, but at that point it's probably a mercy.

I suspect that in the context of Middle Eastern society it might well often be both offered and accepted as such. Sadly the West has never such delicacy about it.

Wasn't there an American back in the 40's or 50's who asked for and was given the death penalty rather than life imprisonment?

Yawn. It's late. G'night.

spot;799062 wrote: You know, I'm quite sure you're mistaken. I think it's some poor chap whose tether snapped and who had no idea at all what he was about to do, no intention of the outcome, just a spasm of utter fury and there it is, done. I think any of us can be pushed to it.


Really?

Clodhopper;799102 wrote: Wasn't there an American back in the 40's or 50's who asked for and was given the death penalty rather than life imprisonment?

Yawn. It's late. G'night.Rather more recently, I suspect. Gary someone who was shot not many years ago by a State firing squad. He used the law to achieve his end, the law fought his refusal to appeal and lost.

AussiePam;799103 wrote: Really?Why else would I write it if I didn't think it?

I think you're completely wrong, Spot.

Many people do. I offer it as a suggestion. I happen to think it's accurate but that's not really the point.

spot;799062 wrote: You know, I'm quite sure you're mistaken. I think it's some poor chap whose tether snapped and who had no idea at all what he was about to do, no intention of the outcome, just a spasm of utter fury and there it is, done. I think any of us can be pushed to it.


Of course you may be right, but I would think that there would have to be some form of underlying pathological condition there for someone to be capable of going all the way through with this kind of act, many people snap, but to commit an act of such gross violence is very unusual, so my guess would be that this man had or has a pyschopathic personality that was brought to the fore in this episode. I don't suppose that the court case will end up revealing the true nature of this crime, but we shall see I guess.