Citizen in Oman jailed for assaulting a 13-year-old autistic boy

Energy Tuesday 18/September/2018 21:59 PM
By: Times News Service
Citizen in Oman jailed for assaulting a 13-year-old autistic boy

Muscat: An Omani citizen has been referred to the Criminal Court for allegedly assaulting a thirteen year-old boy, the Public Prosecution has said.
Officials said the suspect lured the boy to an abandoned house to teach him how to shoot a gun and then was said to have assaulted the boy.
Public Prosecution
On April 27, 2018, the victim’s father filed a complaint with the Public Prosecution about the suspect, accusing him of abusing his son.
Additionally, the boy was autistic, according to the medical reports.
“One week before filing the complaint, the boy was playing outside the family house in the afternoon when the incident took place. The accused passed by the victim, and the boy asked the accused to teach him how to use the gun he was holding for shooting birds,” according to the Public Prosecution report.
“The accused took the victim to an abandoned house only 50 metres away from the victim’s house. He immediately took him inside one of the rooms that had a bed and then showed him porn videos from his phone, though the victim refused to watch. Then he violently took off his clothes and assaulted him.” After the complaint was filed, the Royal Oman Police (ROP) team headed to the house where the incident took place to collect evidence.
The accused was arrested and police say he confessed to the crime. Also, the accused’s phone and gun were confiscated by police. ROP then referred the case to the Public Prosecution for further investigation, before forwarding it to the court. The Public Prosecution sent the boy, as well as the samples taken from the house, to the forensic department. The forensic report affirmed that the boy was raped by the accused, said officials. Moreover, several porn videos and photos were found in the accused’s phone, including photos of the victim while he was raped by the accused.
Officials said the suspect has been implicated in the raping of other children, between the ages of 12 to 14 years, in the village.
“The accused raped a boy, who is one of his relatives, several times. When one of the boy’s family member found about the incident, he didn’t report the case, as he feared the stigma and shame. The criminal then felt emboldened to repeat the crime.
“He raped other children in the same abandoned house, which he used as a den for his heinous crimes, which snatched away the innocence of these children,” according to the report.
The accused has been charged with a number of offences, including raping a child, which is criminalised in article 72 of the Child Law, displaying inappropriate contents involving children, violating the Cyber Law by using the internet to produce children pornography.
On May 30, the Public Prosecution referred the case to the Criminal Court for trial.
The Public Prosecution has called upon all parents to report all sexual assaults of children. “It’s a clear message for all parents to report any sexual assault against children, which helps to save the innocence of children,” it said.