KUCHING: A schoolgirl suffered for two years at the hands of her stepfather who molested and raped her at almost every opportunity.
Mercifully, the 65-year-old suspect was arrested last Wednesday afternoon.
Her suffering was so great that she chose not to go to school as it was the stepfather who transported her to and from school daily.
She said that at every opportunity, when taking her to and from school on his motorcycle, her stepfather would ride to a quiet area where he groped her body and private parts. She requested to stay at her school hostel but the stepfather refused to give consent.
The abuse started when she was in Form Three while her adoptive mother was not in the house. The suspect hugged her, touched her all over and violated her private part while warning her to keep quiet or he would slap her.
The victim said on Friday morning last week, while she was washing something in the kitchen, the suspect hugged her from behind, groped her breasts and touched her private part. She said while that was going on, they could both see her adoptive mother drying clothes outside.
That same day, the suspect told her to go shopping with him. Instead of actually going shopping he brought her to a jungle in Padawan where he raped her. He told her if she did not keep quiet, he would continue to rape her.
After the rape, she could not concentrate and was in fear all the time. She summoned just enough courage to tell her adoptive mother about it but she did not believe her. She only ventured to say that if her stepfather raped her again, only then would they lodge a police report.
With two friends to support her, the Form Five student, who was asked to see a discipline teacher due to her playing truant, begged and cried for help prompting the teacher to lodge a report immediately on Tuesday.
After the teacher and the victim lodged a report, police from Padawan went to their village in Matang and arrested the suspect at 4.45pm on Wednesday.
Padawan police chief Supt Aidil Bolhassan confirmed the arrest and said the suspect, who initially admitted that he had raped his stepdaughter, had been remanded in custody.
He said the girl had been brought to the Sarawak General Hospital for a check-up.
The victim is actually a niece of the suspect’s wife. She was given up for adoption when she was a baby.
