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Saudi man threatens Bahrain hotel staff over 'high' prices

MANAMA, March 2, 2015

A Saudi Arabian man, who allegedly pointed a gun at hotel employees and threatened to kill them, was upset because of the 'high room prices', a heard court.

The 53-year-old was reportedly enraged when he was informed of the room rates at the four-star hotel, according to High Criminal Court documents, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

He allegedly got into a heated argument with two receptionists, an Egyptian and a Yemeni, before he took out his pistol, pointed it at their heads and shouted “I will kill all of you.”

He then causally walked out of the hotel lobby and drove off in his Toyota Lexus on December 12 last year, claimed the 27-year-old Egyptian man.

“My shift had ended and I was about to leave when a Saudi customer walked into the hotel at 7.30am,” he said in his statement to the Public Prosecution.

“He spoke to my Yemeni colleague before he asked me for the prices of the suites.

“I informed him of the prices and he made me speak to a woman over the phone and I told her the prices as well.

“He started saying our hotel is rubbish and started insulting us, and I asked him why he was doing so.

“He then took out a gun and pointed it at my head and said 'I am going to kill all of you’.

“He started yelling and called us dogs and threatened to shoot us.”

The receptionist told prosecutors that he and his colleagues, a Yemeni man and a Filipina woman, feared for their lives as the defendant waved the gun at them.

“We all looked at him in shock and we were terrified and did not say a word,” he added.

“We thought that he was going to shoot and kill us as he threatened to do so, but afterwards he just walked away and got into his car.

“Before he drove off he shouted 'come outside you dogs and I will show you’.”

The Yemeni man, who was on the job for a week when the incident happened, told prosecutors the defendant was initially friendly but turned violent as soon as he heard the room prices.

“Everything was going fine until he learned about the prices,” the 33-year-old receptionist said in his statement to prosecutors.

“He immediately took out a gun, which was silver with a wooden handle, and pointed it at us.

“He then started to scream and we all stayed quiet until he walked away.”

Video footage from security cameras located inside the hotel were used to identify and arrest the defendant, who was later released on bail.

The Saudi, who failed to appear for his first court hearing yesterday, has been charged with possessing an unlicensed weapon and ammunition, threatening several people at gunpoint and insulting them.

However, he denied insulting his alleged victims but admitted to taking out his gun during initial questioning by prosecutors.

“My friend told me to come to the hotel and I did,” he said.

“I then realised I had my gun and bullets in the car and that I had entered the country with the gun through the King Fahad Causeway.

“I kept it in my pocket because I was afraid someone would steal it when my car was being washed.

“I entered the hotel and I saw my friend arguing with the receptionists.

“I then came to his defence and I wanted to only scare the Egyptian employee as I pointed the gun at his head.”

The trial was adjourned to April 6 for the defendant to show up in court. - TradeArabia News Service




Tags: hotel | Saudi | price | High | threat | Man | gun |

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