‘SUBSTANDARD’

Accused Rapist Complains He’s Traumatized by Rikers Island Stay

Bandar Alharbi’s lawyers said he’d been stabbed by another inmate and forced to mop up a river of raw sewage in his cell.

A man accused of violently abusing his wife asked to be released from Rikers Island while he awaits trial, citing “substandard” conditions and “traumatizing” experiences, the New York Post reported. In a petition to a Manhattan Supreme Court judge, Bandar Alharbi’s lawyers said that during his stay at Rikers, the high-rolling Saudi Arabian was stabbed through the cheek by another inmate while sleeping and was forced to wade in a flood of raw sewage that spilled into his cell, which he had to use his own clothes to mop up. Alharbi, who reportedly holds more than $2 million worth of real estate in Saudi Arabia, is seeking $250,000 which he says his parents and the Saudi government can provide. He allegedly terrorized his estranged wife—who is a Bahraini diplomat—for years since they were married in 2017, including multiple instances of alleged rape, assault, and threatening to kill her, sometimes in front of their young son. His wife reported him to the police in summer 2023, and Alharbi has been held at Rikers since August.