Man who killed his three daughters was on drugs

33-year-old man slit the throats of his children in front of their mother

ASaudi father who slit the throats of his three daughters — ages three to six — in front of their mother, was on drugs, according to witnesses.

Police said the wife had been hospitalised with a nervous breakdown.

The 33-year-old man has since been arrested and has admitted to police that he had not slept for days, and was on drugs, sources confirmed to the Saudi news site Sabq.

According to a neighbour who called 911 and reported the killing, the incident occurred at 11am on Sunday in Makkah.

The neighbour said he heard the wife scream from inside the house and soon after the father left the apartment. The man then walked to the corner grocery shop and sat down, sipping water as if nothing had happened.

When the neighbour approached him asking about the screams, he said it was nothing.

Minutes later his wife rushed out of the building shouting hysterically: “My daughters, my daughters.”

The neighbour asked him if he had hurt his daughters.

The father replied: “You are welcome to my home, go inside.”

The neighbours entered the apartment where they discovered the girls with their throats slit.

Neighbours said the man mostly kept to himself and did not interact with them — he held a job as a security guard.