Police condemns rape of 5-year-old

By YVONNE HAIP
SEXUAL offences and other such related crimes carried out on women, have taken their toll in the country where women as young as 10 years have fallen prey to this crime.
In Southern Highlands, this age range has been exceeded down to five-year-olds, police in the province said this week.
Provincial police commander Supt Teddy Tei said the latest sexual offence was carried out on a five-year-old girl at Kaminiga village in Kaupena by a 28-year-old man.
He said the child had been left alone at home while the parents were attending the funeral of a relative last week, when the incident happened. 
He said the suspect had allegedly approached the child and sexually harassed the child before eventually sexually penetrating her.
He said the matter had been reported to Kaupena police who apprehended and formally charged the suspect (Wanis Maru), who is from Kopapul village in the Imbonggu district.
Tei raised concern that such crimes were on the rise and parents should always monitor their children, even if they were at home.
While condemning the incident, he said such were the “animalistic acts of lunatics” and if the trend were to continue, “we will have a sick society”.
He also appealed to the courts to impose severe penalties on such people who were “merely polluting society”.
On Monday, Western Highlands police reported that rape cases had soared in the province and most of the offences had been carried out within the vicinity of Mt Hagen town.
In other centres, sexual offences had also been reported by police, most committed by relatives of the victims at home.