Girl in disco:Jail scrapped

Manama

A woman who took a 12-year-old girl with her to a disco in Manama had her conviction cancelled on appeal. The woman was earlier sentenced to two years in jail for committing indecency.A security man at the disco was also given two years imprisonment for allowing the girl to enter the place. The High Criminal Appeals Court scrapped his sentence as well. The pair was earlier held guilty by the Lower Criminal Court, but judges at the High Criminal Appeals Court said such cases should be heard in a Juvenile Court. They ordered the case to be re-heard at the Juvenile Court. Court files revealed the woman was spotted accompanied by the girl in a table along with some Gulf nationals inside the disco. She was caught by a tourism inspector who was present at he disco to check if it was complying with the local regulations. Police officers arrested her, and also held a security guard who allowed the girl to enter. “The mother of the child left her with me when she went to Saudi. I had a date with my boyfriend (one of the Gulf nationals) and we booked a room in a hotel,” the accused said in her statement. “He invited me to a restaurant in the same hotel, but it was crowded. Hence, we decided to go inside the disco,” she added. The second accused, however, denied acknowledgment of the girl’s age.