DEARBORN – Homicide charges were dismissed last Friday against Yaken Al-Ghathie and Saber Alghathie, two Dearborn boys who were accused of killing their sister in a car accident on Christmas day while driving to their other sisters wedding at Greenfield Manor.

In what the brothers described as “Zaffa,” a Yemeni wedding tradition that involves wild driving, the two boys and their attorneys were pleading their case in front of Judge Mark Somers. The attorneys claimed that behaviors such as wild driving on wedding days was a norm in the Yemeni culture.

On their way to their sisters wedding from the south end on the eve of December 25, the two brothers who were driving in different cars, decided to speed race with each other as they turned northbound onto Greenfield Rd. from Michigan Ave. Yaken had sped up so fast that within seconds, he lost control of his car and wound up crashing into the 3 Nicks Bar, which is next door to Greenfield Manor.

The impact of the crash resulted in Yaken’s sister, Eitedac Al-Ghathi and Amain Alammari who was also in the car, to fly out of the backseat window and onto the ground. Both of the girls were reportedly not wearing their seatbelts. Eitedac was pronounced dead on location and Amain, who was in serious condition, was immediately transported to Oakwood Hospital.

The two boys were immediately charged with second-degree murder, but the parents of the boys, who were still grieving over the loss of their daughter, had disagreed with those charges.

While the murder charges were dismissed, both defendants were still charged with reckless driving and were referred over to the Wayne County Circuit Court.

The decision followed a six-hour hearing where prosecutors laid out the evidence against them. The brothers had a significant amount of support in the courtroom, where they received applause from family and friends who attended the hearing according to a report from the Dearborn Press and Guide.  Family members could not be reached for further comments as of press time.