Girl tells court of sexual abuse by stepfather

 By JUNIOR UKAHA

A TEENAGED girl has told a court that her stepfather had been abusing and mistreating her for the past four years.

“He would use his finger to touch me and kiss me,” the girl, 17, and in Grade 10, said. 

She has not been named to protect her identity.

“He would do this when he is drunk or sober. I hid the abuse from my mother in fear of her safety and mine. 

“He told me that he would kill me if I report the abuses to anyone.”

The stepfather, however, denied the accusations when asked by magistrate Nasaling Bingtau at the Lae court yesterday.

Bingtau has instructed both the girl and the stepfather to prepare affidavits and present them in court on June 20. The girl yesterday told a packed courtroom attended by family members and relatives that the sexual abuse began when she was in Grade 7.  

The girl said he would stop her from going out with friends and keep her in the house. 

She said he would not even allow her to visit her relatives and would beat her badly if she made a mistake.

“He told me he would give me a present when I turned 18. I was afraid and traumatised by his actions,” she said.

The stepfather, however, said he treated the girl as his own daughter.

“I treated her as one of my very own,” he said.

“I don’t know why she wanted to defame my character.

He admitted beating up the girl but said he did so for disciplinary reasons.

He denied that the beatings were as severe as claimed by the girl.

“I never stop her from visiting her relatives. She goes to Buimo to visit her aunty and uncle,” he said.

He said that on occasions she tells the girl to stay at home for her own safety.