Manama: A Saudi man has been ordered by a court to pay his former wife and their son an overall SR2.9 million (Dh2.8 million) alimony for leaving them 32 years ago.
The family court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah ruled in favour of the wife, who filed the case this year. She produced evidence that her husband left her after she had their baby without any concern about her situation.
Two witnesses corroborated the ex-wife’s account, and testified that he left her without assuming any form of financial responsibility, Saudi daily Al Madinah reported on Tuesday.
The court reportedly ordered an investigation into the man’s current salary, and learned that he was making around SR80,000 a month.
The judge ruled that the husband must pay SR4,000 for each of the 384 months he left his wife without his financial support, a total of SR1.536 million.
The judge also ordered the father to pay SR4,000 for each of the 336 months he did not support his son, a total of SR1.344 million.
The ruling brought the total amount that the man was ordered to pay to SR2.880 million.
The court said that the man would have to pay a monthly alimony of SR5,000. The amount will be doubled on the occasion of the two religious feasts celebrated in Saudi Arabia.
According to the newspaper report, the Saudi citizen did not oppose the verdict issued by the court.
Online users welcomed the court’s decision as a positive step that addressed a gross injustice done to the former wife and to the son.
