Stepdad gets 20 years for repeatedly raping 12-year-old
NATIONAL | May 16, 2018:
A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act court on Tuesday convicted and sentenced a 47-year-old Cuffe Parade resident to 20 years' imprisonment for repeatedly raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter and insisting that she act in porn films. When the child had reported the crimes to her mother she, in turn, had refused to believe her and beaten her up. The child had even attempted suicide.
Among those to depose were the girl and her maternal grandmother.
She was 16 years old in 2016 when she deposed before the court. She said told the court that her biological father and her mother had separated when she was a year old. At the time of her deposition, she was living in a shelter home.
The girl said she lived with her maternal grandmother until she was 10 years old and later came to stay with her mother after she married the accused in 2002. The minor said that while she slept with her mother and younger step-brother on the ground floor of the house, the accused slept on the mezzanine floor.
The girl said that some time in 2012, the accused slept next to her and raped her. She said that she wanted to scream for help but the accused gagged her. The following morning the girl told her mother of the crime but she did not believe her.
The survivor said that initially she did not disclose her ordeal to the hospital staff. However, when she began to bleed on May 11, 2013, she finally confided in a nurse who, in turn, informed the cops. A case was registered with Cuffe Parade police and the girl's statement recorded.
