Man arrested for the rape and murder of 4-year-old girl in Thanbyuzayat Township

June 14, 2019

HURFOM: On June 5^th 2019, a 4-year-old girl from Aung Thu Khaw Ward, Kyaik Kha Mi Town, Thanbyuzayat Township, was raped, killed, and her body disposed of in a lake by a 28-year-old man who had relocated to the area for work. The perpetrator has since been arrested and charged for his crimes.

According to witnesses, the young girl was playing outside her home when she was approached by the man at approximately 4pm on the afternoon of June 5^th. The man lured the girl away from her home by promising to buy her snacks if she followed him.

By approximately 7pm that evening, the girl had yet to return to her home. Concerned, the girl’s mother reported her daughter missing to U Thar Byaw, the Aung Thu Khaw Ward Administrator. Accompanied by U Thar Byaw, a team of villagers searched for the girl but were unable to locate her. It was then that the two witnesses reported seeing the man with the young girl to the Ward Administrator. The search party confronted the perpetrator at his home where he was quick to deny the accusations made against him.

“Along with other villagers, I asked the man if he had raped the girl, but he denied our accusations. Then the witnesses came forward to say that he was the person who took the girl. People were angry and started to attack him, but I stopped them and brought him to the police station. After being questioned by police, he confessed that he had raped the girl, killed her, and thrown her body in a nearby lake,” said U Thar Byaw, the Ward Administrator.

“After he confessed, we all went to the lake to search for the girl’s body but could not find her. At about 10pm the girl’s body emerged from the lake. We sent the girl’s body to the hospital for a medical examination, and on June 6^th the doctor confirmed that she had been raped,” continued U Thar Byaw.

The perpetrator has been charged by Kyaik Kha Mi police under Penal Code 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 302 (Punishment for murder), and 376 (Punishment for rape).

This is the fifth incident of sexual and gender-based violence that HURFOM has reported since January 2019, though it is the first where the victim’s life has been brought to such a tragic end. In 2017, a total of 44 cases of child rape were reported to Mon State police, whereas in 2018 this number rose to 57. The disturbing rise in reports of child rape from 44 to 57 signals a 29.5% net increase in cases of child sexual abuse reported in Mon State between 2017 and 2018, which is in keeping with a broader Burma-wide trend of increases in the reporting of sexual abuse to authorities over the last five years.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News