A 65-year-old man, identified by his initials AS, from Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, was arrested Saturday for the alleged rape of two very young girls.
Police identified one of the alleged victim as a 4-year-old identified by her initial B. They said that on Saturday, B went home complaining about pains in her body to her parents.
“When [her father] asked, she said that [AS] had raped her,” South Jakarta Police Crime Investigation Unit Head Steven Tamuntuan told the media yesterday, as quoted by Kompas.
B’s father then reported AS to the police. The latter was arrested on that day and confessed to the rape of B and that of another young girl, 6-year-old M, who is B’s cousin.
One police officer said that AS, who is single, was simply acting on his lust.
“The culprit’s motive is just desire,” said South Jakarta Police Women and Children’s Protective Services Head Nunu Suparmi as quoted by Kompas.
Locals say that AS, a construction worker, lived in a house in the same narrow alleyway as his alleged victims.
AS has been charged with violating Indonesia’s Child Protection Laws, which could see him imprisoned for up to 15 years if proven guilty. There are no reports yet on how the girls are doing after the alleged sexual assault.
In 2016, after the brutal gang rape and murder of a teenage girl in Bengkulu, President Joko Widodo signed a Perppu (Presidential Regulation In Lieu of Law) introducing the death penalty and chemical castration for convicted child molesters. Activists say that the threat of severe punishment has not been as successful a deterrent as the government hoped, as sexual assault against children continue to be a serious problem in Indonesia.
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