Dismissed for ten years police officer accused of underage abuse

Recently, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation announced the punishment of a policeman accused of sexual abuse of a minor in the course of his work as a patrolman.

Dairo Amarís Silva, a patrolman attached to the police station in the municipality of La Argentina, in Huila, was accused of the crime of abusive carnal access with children under 14 years of age. For these events, the Public Prosecutor's Office decided to sanction the police officer with dismissal from office and general disability for ten years.

According to the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, the patrolman of the National Police violated all the rights of the minor.

Likewise, the watchdog suggested that it was “a romantic relationship”, despite the fact that the member of the police is an older man and his victim is a girl.

For the Public Prosecutor's Office, Dairo Amarís Silva took advantage of his manifest superiority in age, employment, economic position and relations of authority as a police officer to abuse the minor while she was in the exercise of her legal functions.

Likewise, the entity stressed that the uniformed party did not take into account that due to their role, as a member of the National Police, they were also called upon to ensure the coexistence and rights of children and adolescents.

“The patrolman's acts were contrary to his functional duty not to engage in behaviors that are objectively described by the criminal system as punishable, especially when they affect legal property protected by minors,” added the Attorney General's Office.

The foul committed by the patrolman Dairo Amarís Silva was definitively described as a very serious offense by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

It should be recalled that this decision of first instance is the appeal to the Disciplinary Trial Chamber.

In 61 per cent of complaints related to sexual offences, victims are minors

Due to the critical panorama faced by minors in Colombia, the Laboratory for the Economics of Education (LEE) of the Javeriana University published an investigation called “Sexual crimes against minors in Colombia: sex education as the main tool”, where it is evident that not only have reports related to crimes increased but the most affected in this type of crime are minors.

LEE noted that in 2021, approximately 43,993 complaints associated with sexual crimes were filed in Colombia, in which 85.4% of the cases the victim is a woman. In addition, of 100 per cent of complaints, 27,000 complaints, or 61 per cent, relate to cases against children and adolescents. This implies that, on average, a child abuse is reported every 20 minutes.

On the other hand, the investigation by Universidad Javeriana also shows that the increase in these crimes has occurred since 2010, according to data collection, the increase has been as follows: in 2010 the Prosecutor's Office received 10,911 complaints of sexual offences against children and adolescents, by 2015 cases increased to 18,885, and in 2018 they tripled compared to 2010:30,121 complaints and in 2019 the highest number of complaints: 35,738.

KEEP READING: