They prosecute a man who had abused a minor in a community home in Pereira

A new case of sexual offences against a minor was recently heard in Pereira. This is an event that occurred inside a community home, where a girl would have been the victim of abusive touching.

Recently, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation reported on a complaint that had been filed in Pereira for alleged sexual offences against a girl under three years of age. The incident would have occurred in a community home and the perpetrator would be the romantic partner of the woman in charge of the site.

According to the information provided by the entity under investigation, the man, who was also responsible for preparing food for minors in the community home, had performed improper touching at the younger age.

That would have been established after the girl complained about the discomfort she had in her private parts. The pains were so worrying that the minor had to be transferred to a healthcare center to receive medical attention.

There, health professionals established that the three-year-old girl had indeed been the victim of abusive touching by force.

For these events that occurred on March 28, a prosecutor from the Center for Comprehensive Care for Victims of Sexual Abuse (Caivas) charged the 57-year-old man with the crime of violent sexual act. It should be noted that despite the medical evidence provided, the alleged aggressor did not accept the charges charged by the Attorney General's Office.

Likewise, the investigating body assured that it requested the measure of deprivation of liberty for the alleged aggressor; however, a judge decided that the man could face his defense process while he was free.

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

Recently, warnings of sexual harassment and abuse against boys and girls in schools throughout the country went on, since so far this year there have been multiple complaints about this problem. In addition, since the pandemic began, reports of domestic abuse and sexual crimes at home have also increased.

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 the reports related to sexual offenses in the country, 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, in addition to 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.

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 crimes against children and adolescents, in 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.

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