Police in the Indonesian province of Lampung say they recently rescued an 18-year-old mentally disabled woman, identified by her initials AG, who was allegedly undergoing horrific abuse at the hands of her 45-year-old father, identified as JM, as well as her brothers SA (24) and YF (15), all three of whom have been arrested for committing multiple acts of incestuous sexual assault against AG since her mother died last year.
AG lived with the alleged perpetrators at their home in the Sukoharjo sub-district of Tanggamus Regency. Their neighbors were reportedly suspicious that AG was suffering abuse at home due to her deteriorating outward physical appearance, which eventually led to a police investigation and her father and brothers’ arrests.
According to investigators, JM admitted to raping AG five times while SA said he raped her 120 times and YG 60 times. The head of the Tanggamus Police’s Women and Children Protection Unit, Primadona Laila, said JM admitted that he was fully aware that he was raping his own daughter and that he took advantage of her disability.
“Her helplessness was taken advantage of by her own father to unleash his sexual desires,” Primadona told Detik yesterday.
The brothers, SA and YF, told the police that they were compelled to act out on their sexual desires because they frequently watched porn on their phones, even getting their disabled sister to watch with them on a few occasions.
Not only that, YF also admitted to the police that he recently had sexual intercourse with a cow and a goat owned by their neighbors. The local police are currently having the teenager’s mental health evaluated.
AG is now recovering at a relative’s home and is reportedly in good physical health, but because of her trauma, police say that that she has an “empty” look in her eyes.
The three suspects are currently in police custody pending further investigation. If convicted, they could each face up to 15 years in prison for violating Indonesia’s Child Protection Laws.
“The prison sentence is 5-year minimum, and 15-year maximum, added with one-third of the maximum prison sentence because the crime was carried out by a parent and people with blood relations,” Primadona said Monday in a press release picked up by CNN Indonesia.
YF, who’s still underage, will be tried in juvenile court and will be the first to go on trial, before his father and older brother.
Incestuous sexual abuse is a rarely talked about but widespread problem Indonesia. In their 2018 report, the Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) noted that out of 348,000 cases of violence against women in 2017, 1,210 were incestuous rape cases with the perpetrators mainly being the victims’ fathers, uncles, and brothers.
