Tag: rape

Police arrest four men for abducting, drugging and gang-raping 16 year-old girl

Police have arrested four suspects for the abduction and gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in a guest house in Male last weekend.

The girl was grabbed by the men while she was walking down the road around midday on December 11, forced into a car and taken to a guest house, Head of the Police Child Protection Unit, Superintendent Ali Shujau told the press on Thursday.

She was drugged by the men and gang raped, he said, adding that the men filmed the crime.

The four suspects were identified by the Police as 20 year-old Azmeel Ahmed of Hithadhooge, Seenu atoll Hithadhoo, 25 year-old Mohamed Azum of White Sea, Seenu atoll Maradhoo-Feydhoo, 19 year- old Ismail Muneez of Maafannu Hiyama and 21 year-old Ahmed Nabeeh Moosa of Maafannu Fennairu.

They all were arrested withing 34 hours after the police were alerted to the crime. All the suspects have previous criminal records for drug abuse and assaults, Shujau added.

According to the police the family reported the crime after the girl went home and told about it. Police did not reveal how the victim reached home.

Shujau noted that the girl could not give a clear statement of the attack, although she identified two of them by their “gang names”. He also added that it is too soon to say whether the attack was directed to her.

A similar case was also reported in March 2010, when group of 15 men abducted, drugged and gang raped a 20 year old girl on the island of Hithadhu in Addu City.

Shujau had earlier told the press that police investigations have revealed that school children aged 14 to 18 were being lured to guest houses by adults.

Police found that minors were sexually abused at guest houses after being lured through the internet, he said.

The reported sexual assaults on young girls, women and even female expatriate workers, has been on the rise at an alarming rate this year.

Police confirmed on Wednesday, that they had arrested four men on accusations of attempting to sexually assault a 15 year-old girl on Nolhivaramfaru in Haa Dhaalu Atoll. The girl fortunately escaped with no injuries, police said.

In October, police arrested two men and a minor on suspicion of raping an Indian nurse working in the island of Gulhi in Kaafu Atoll.

In another attack in September, group of five men including the chairman of an anti-drug NGO allegedly drugged and raped a 15 year old girl on the island of Guraidhoo in Kaafu Atoll.

In August police also arrested five men on the island of Innamaadhoo in Raa Atoll for allegedly raping a 16 year-old girl. While in the same month, an Indian gynecologist working at Hoarafushi Health Centre in Haa Alifu Atoll, was also attacked by a group of masked men at her house in August. She fought with the men and was able to escape.

A group of five were also arrested in May, on suspicion of gang raping an 18 year-old girl on Maabaidhoo in Laamu Atoll.

A 74-year-old woman was brutally raped by an alleged 19 year old on Hithadhoo in Addu City. She had to undergo surgery after the incident.

A 2006 study by the then Ministry of Gender and Family found that one in three Maldivian women aged 15-49 have experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lives, while one in five women in the same age group reported experiencing this from an intimate partner.

Moreover, one in six women in the capital Male’ and one in eight countrywide reported experiencing childhood sexual abuse under the age of 15 years.

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Expat nurse working in Gulhi raped

Police have arrested two men and a minor on suspicion of raping an Indian nurse working in the island of Gulhi in Kaafu Atoll.

Deputy Chair of the Gulhi Island Council, Abdulla Shiham, told Minivan News that the incident occurred last Friday night.

“That night a council member was phoned and informed about the incident at 12:30am in the morning,” he explained. “I myself went to the house where the nurse was staying and we reported it to the police right away. Police arrived the next morning because the weather was bad and no speedboat was available at the time.”

Police started their investigation the following morning, said Shiham, and arrested a 19 year-old, a 24 year-old and a minor.

“The nurse has worked for the island for almost five years and she has helped the islanders in many ways,” he continued. “We condemn this action with the strongest possible terms and we call on police and judiciary to give them the harshest penalty possible, even to the minor.”

Islanders were all frustrated and sad about the incident, the council chair said.

“When the doctor in the island health centre goes for vacation the nurse will not let us feel the absence of the doctor, she cares for the islanders very well, even if we asked she would open the health centre at midnight,” he added.

While the nurse wanted to come back to work for the island, Shiham said her husband did not want her to stay there any longer and she left the next day.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed the arrests were made and said the investigation was underway.

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Man arrested for sexually assaulting 62 year-old grandmother

Police have arrested a 26 year-old man for allegedly sexually assaulting his 62 year-old grandmother on the island of Hithadhoo of Addu City.

A police spokesperson confirmed to Minivan News that police had received a report of the attack this morning.

However, he did not provide further information regarding the incident.

Local media Haveeru reported that the 26 year-old man was a grandson of the woman, who was half paralysed. She was taken to Hithadhoo Regional Hospital.

A family member told the newspaper that the man had been forcing his grandmother since last Ramadan.

In April this year, a 19 year-old man was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 74 year-old elderly woman on the same island.

Although the police arrested only one person in connection with the earlier case, the family at the time told media that there were three persons suspected of involvement.

Media at the time reported  eyewitnesses as seeing three young men near her house before she was dragged to the island’s beach and sexually assaulted.

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Four men arrested for drugging and gang raping 15 year-old girl

Police have arrested a group of men including the chairman of an anti-drug NGO for allegedly drugging and raping a 15 year old girl on the island of Guraidhoo in Kaafu Atoll.

An islander told Minivan News that the incident occurred on Sunday night when the girl allegedly accompanied the five men who were intending to use marijuana.

“They did not forcibly take her to [to the area near the cemetery] but she went with them, and there they raped her,” he said. “The next day she told her mother about the incident and she reported it to police.”

He said the police arrested the men on Monday afternoon and took the girl to the island’s health centre.

According to the islander, two of the five men detained by police were minors. They were summoned to Maafushi Court in Kaafu Atoll Maafushi, an island very close to Guraidhoo.

“Maafushi Court extended the detention of three adults to 10 days and released the two minors to house arrest,” he said. “The three have been brought to Male’ and are currently in Atholhuvehi Police Custodial.”

He added that the Chairman of the drug NGO was also a staff member at the island council office.

A police spokesperson confirmed to Minivan News that four men had been arrested in connection with the case.

“The police were informed that a group of men on the island drugged a 15 year-old girl and attempted to rape her,” he said. “Four men were arrested in connection with the case.”

The police investigation in continuing.

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Indian gynecologist attacked by masked men on Hoarafushi

An Indian gynecologist working at Hoarafushi Health Centre in Haa Alifu Atoll has said she will “never come back to the Maldives” after two masked islanders attacked and gagged her.

“They broke in to my room with their faces covered, holding knives, and they tried to attack me,” the doctor told Minivan News. “I could only see their eyes. It was like the worst nightmare I have ever seen.”

The doctor said at first she tried to escape by shouting, but then the men tried to cover her mouth and tie a rope to her neck.

“I dialed the last dialed number on my phone and it was the health centre. When the health centre answered the phone the attackers snatched it from my hands and switched it off, but luckily the person who answered heard me screaming.”

The doctor said she fought with the men and was able to escape.

“I held their knife and pushed them back, then jumped out of the window and screamed for help,” the doctor said. “Then they ran away.”

The doctor said it was the “worst experience I have ever had” and that she would “never ever come back to the Maldives.”

“I’ll even advise my friends and my students not to choose Maldives,” she said. “I mean why should they do this? I did my best to serve the people here, why should they do this to me?”

The doctor said she had no idea what had motivated the pair to attack her, and said she was emotionally, mentally and physically hurt in the incident.

Deputy chair of the island council Ali Riyaz, who told Minivan News he was the first to attend the scene, said the incident was “regrettable”.

Riyaz said he first heard of the incident when the doctor phoned a councilor during a council meeting last night at 9:50pm.

“I went to her room immediately and called the police,” Riyaz said. “Her room is very close to the Council Office and we rushed there very quickly. When we knocked on the door she did not open it because she was so frightened.”

Once the councilors had convinced the doctor who they were, “she came outside and started crying. She was injured,” Riyaz said. “She said two men with their faces covered entered her room and attacked her.”

Riyaz said the doctor had told them not to do this to her and that she was like a sister to them.

“She even told them to take any amount of money they wanted, and also to take any electronics including her laptop if they wanted, without attacking her.”

Police had arrested 11 people following the incident, Riyaz said.

“Two of them were the two men suspected by the police, and the other nine were those who went [to police] of their own accord because they have past crime records and they wanted to show that they had no hand in this incident,” Riyaz said.

The doctor was the only specialist working in the Hoarafushi Health Centre and the only gynecologist in the entire atoll. Riyaz said her departure would be “a great loss” for the atoll.

“She had decided to leave Maldives some time ago,” he said. “She was a great doctor and is loved by many islanders across the atoll.”

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that police had arrested two promising suspects, although he said their motives remained unclear.

The community had been very supportive of the police investigation and were taking care of the doctor, he said: “The heart of the whole island is with her.”

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Five men arrested on Innamadhoo for alleged rape of 16 year-old girl

Police have arrested five men on the island of Innamaadhoo in Raa Atoll for allegedly raping a 16 year-old girl.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that five men were arrested but declined to provide further information as the investigation was ongoing.

Minivan News contacted the island office and spoke to an Innamaadhoo councillor, who insisted that the five men “would have had sex with her consent.”

“I cannot believe that one would have to rape her, because she is a very wanton girl,” the councillor told Minivan News. “I think her brother somehow found out about it and reported it to police.”

The councillor further added that the 16 year-old girl was not from Innamaadhoo and was a “very bad girl.”

“It’s all allegations, according to Maldivian law the police arrest anyone that the girl points her finger at without even having any evidence that the accused has been really involved in it and will keep them a several days in custody to determine the truth of the allegations,” he complained.

“In the statement given to police, the girl said she did not know who the men were apart from her boyfriend,” the councillor said.

“If she was raped by five men then there will be some external injuries that would be easy to identify, but I have seen the girl after that and she was in good condition and there was nothing unusual about her.”

An islander meanwhile told Minivan News that “some people” had followed the girl and her boyfriend as they saw the couple acting unusual.

“They saw them enter an abandoned house and saw everything that happened,” he said, going on to blame the island council’s deputy chair for attempting to “hide the truth of the story”.

”The council has been very irresponsible and doing no good for the people,” he said. ”Even in this incident the council has tried to hide the truth from the media.”

Minivan News contacted the head of the gender department, Lubna Mohamed, regarding the prevalence of sexual abuse and prevailing societal attitudes in the Maldives, but she did not respond at time of press.

A 2006 study by the then Ministry of Gender and Family found that one in three Maldivian women aged 15-49 have experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lives, while one in five women in the same age group reported experiencing this from an intimate partner.

Moreover, one in six women in the capital Male’ and one in eight countrywide reported experiencing childhood sexual abuse under the age of 15 years.

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Five men gang rape 18 year-old girl in Laamu Atoll Maabaidhoo

A group of five men allegedly gang raped an 18 year-old girl on Maabaidhoo in Laamu Atoll, police have confirmed.

According to the ‘Laamuatoll’ newspaper based on Maabaidhoo, the group of five men snatched the 18 year-old girl as she was walking down a street last night, and took her to the other side of the island before gang raping her.

“Her mother noticed she was missing at 7:00pm and set out searching for her,’’ said the paper. ‘’At 9:00pm last night her mother found her sitting under a coconut palm tree, barely covered as her clothes were torn.”

The paper also reported that the group of men had blindfolded her using her headscarf, and dropped her to the ground hurting her head.

She was carried to the hospital on a vehicle as she could not walk properly due to the injuries she received, said the paper. At the hospital police were called and informed about the incident, but reportedly could not make it to the island because of poor weather.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed the incident had occurred and that police were now investigating the case.

‘’We have arrested one person in connection with the case,’’ Shiyam said. ‘’We will provide more details after the investigation.’’

In March 2010, a group of 15 men abducted, drugged and gang raped a 20 year old girl, filming the incident with a mobile phone on the island of Hithadhu in Seenu Atoll.

“Two men came by on a motorbike while she was outside her house, and forced her to sit between them,” Regional Commander for Addu Atoll, Chief Inspector Hussein Adam, said at the time. “The 15 men forced her to drink a suspected liquid drug and she became drunk,” he said. ”They used box cutters to threaten her.”

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Cab driver accused of attempted rape

A taxi driver has been reported to police for allegedly trying to sexually assault a girl inside the cab.

Police Lance Corporal Abdul Majeed Moosa told Minivan News that the incident occurred in Male’ inside a taxi yesterday.

”No person was so far arrested in connection with the case,” he said. ”We are now investigating the case.”

Local media has reported that the girl was 20 years-old and had called the taxi dispatch to send a taxi to take her home during her break at noon yesterday.

Instead the cab driver allegedly took her to a pickup parking lot near the Customs Office in Maafannu and attempted to take advantage of her, according to local medias, tearing her dress in an attempt to remove her clothes.

Media reported that the girl cried out and tried to knock on the car windows during the attempted rape, but the car had darkly tinted windows.

Then the driver took to Chandanee Magu, where she escaped and ran home.

The driver had tried to hold her inside the taxi by covering her mouth using his hands, however the girl attacked him with a pin, local media reported.

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Two years and 25 lashes for sexual assault of Japanese music teacher

The Criminal Court of the Maldives has sentenced a man to two years imprisonment and 25 lashes for sexually assaulting a Japanese woman on Kulhudhufushi in Haa Dhaalu Atoll.

The Criminal Court, which identified the victim, said she was walking down the ‘Giolhilaashi Hingun’ street in Kulhudhufushi on November 6, 2010, when she was approached by Adam Shareef who sexually assaulted her.

“Adam Shareef stopped [the victim] and [sexually assaulted] her according to his own admittance.”

An authority at Kulhudhufushi told Minivan News that the Japanese citizen was a volunteer music teacher at Kulhudhufushi school.

”Whatever took place happened on that street,” he said. ”It is a very narrow street where people do not walk very often.”

”Another islander reported the incident to police, not the Japanese citizen,” he said, adding that the incident occurred during broad day light in the afternoon.

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