May 26, 2022

A Criminal Guarantees Court in Ecuador sentenced a man to 22 years in prison for violated and impregnated an 11-year-old girl during confinement by covid-19 in the south of the country, the State Attorney General’s Office reported this Wednesday.

“Although the events were reported in 2021, the attacks would have occurred since 2020, when the victim was 11 years old,” the entity said in a statement.

The aggressor was also sentenced to pay $10,000 as full reparation to the victim.

The Prosecutor’s Office reported that the events were recorded in the city of Loja.

“Due to the health emergency due to covid-19 and the confinement decreed to prevent the spread of the virus, in March 2020, the aggressor and his wife (sister of the victim) went to live in the same building that the assaulted girl shared. with their parents,” the agency said.

The Prosecutor’s Office added that “for a time, the aggressor gained the girl’s trust and then proceeded to sexually assault her.”

When the girl’s mother realized that she was pregnant, she filed a complaint with the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office and the corresponding investigations were initiated.

Organizations defending the rights of children warned during the pandemic of the high risks that minors ran during confinement in the face of possible abuse, as well as the increase in cases of domestic violence.

During the trial hearing, the prosecutor in the case, Ludwin Jimbo Matailo, presented evidence that allowed proving the defendant’s responsibility.

This included the medicolegal report and the result of the psychological expertise carried out on the victim, which proves that the aggressor abused the girl’s ingenuity to attack her. In addition, the testimonies of the victim’s relatives and of the police agents who intervened in the investigation process.

The Organic Comprehensive Criminal Code (COIP) typifies the crime of rape and punishes it with a custodial sentence of 19 to 22 years, when the victim is under 14 years of age.