Saudi Arabia: Man executed for killing wife, 4 kids

Cairo: Saudi authorities said it had executed a Yemeni man convicted of murdering his wife and four children in the family’s house.

The multiple murder dates back to around nine years ago when the convict, named Saleh Abdullah, killed his wife first by strangling her with a clothes hanger before slaying and beheading her with a knife in their house in the town of Sharurah, Okaz newspaper reported.

Afterwards, he did the same to his four children whose ages ranged from 11 to two years. The victims included a child from an ex-wife, the paper added.

Investigations revealed that prior to the murder, the wife had performed the Dhur (noon) prayer and went to bed for a nap only to find her husband fatally attacking her.

He later slew the children and collected the five bodies in one place before calling the police.

The convict whose age was not given attributed the killings to life pressure and did not show regret, Okaz said.

He was handed down a final death sentence, approved by a royal decree.

The man was executed Wednesday in the region of Najran in south-west Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry said.