The shocking rape of a 10-year-old girl in Matara by a group of nine led by an Air Force deserter has prompted President Mahinda Rajapaksa to order the Child Protection Authority(CPA), law enforcement authorities and Education Ministry to take stern action against the rapists.
Child Protection Authority chairman Anoma Dissanayake said the Authority was monitoring the case and would be recording the victim’s video evidence. “The victim had to undergo several operations and is still suffering from shock. As the victim is a child she will need psychiatric treatment so that she would not suffer from mental trauma as she grows up,” Ms. Dissanayake said.
The main suspect, a 30-year-old Air Force deserter Buddhika Nuwan Kumara and eight others were arrested in connection with the rape that occurred at Royal College at Thelijjawila in Matara on September 3, the final day of the Advanced Level examination.
The victim had come to the school with her mother and sister to clean classrooms as the year-end school term was to begin on September 5.
The girl was admitted to the Matara General Hospital in a serious condition.
Medical reports confirmed that the main suspect and others including examination officials, police personnel, security guards of the school, were under the influence of liquor that they had consumed alchohol within the school premises.
The suspects were produced before Matara additional magistrate Dulani Amarasinghe and the main suspect, a father of one, and five others were remanded until September 14, while the others were released on Rs. 100,000 bail each.
Ms. Dissanayake said senior police officers too were assisting the CPA following directions by President Rajapaksa.
Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena in parliament announced that the examination officials involved in the incident would be interdicted. |
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