MARUDI: The police on Tuesday arrested a 71-year-old man on suspicion of sexually molesting an eight-year-old girl in Entulang, Beluru near here.
The farmer was picked up by the police at Rumah Berauh (Berauh’s longhouse) Sungai Entulang, Beluru at 3.40pm on Tuesday following a police report lodged earlier by the victim’s mother.
Baram police chief, DSP Gabriel Risut said the suspect will be produced in court for a remand application under Section 14 (a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act, 2017.
The matter came to light after the victim’s mother was told by her aunt about the suspect’s suspicious behaviour while the victim was playing near the longhouse.
It was believed that the alleged incident happened on 18 May.
According to the aunt, who saw the suspicious incident, the suspect known as ‘Atuk Itan’ was doing something inappropriate to the victim.
It was alleged that the suspect (Atuk Itan) had forced the victim to lie down near a pile of woods and lifted both her legs.
Shocked by the matter, the victim’s mother immediately confronted her daughter (the victim).
However, the victim refused to talk about the incident until the father asked the victim.
“According to the report lodged, the suspect had pulled down the victim’s pants until her knees and caressed her,” Gabriel said, adding that the suspect had also warned the victim not to tell anybody about the incident.
Gabriel said the victim’s father only knew about the incident after the longhouse residents talked about it.
“He has no knowledge of the incident until the longhouse residents talked about it.
“The father who was very furious them asked his daughter to tell him about the incident,” Gabriel said.
Following his daughter’s confession about the alleged incident, the victim’s father met up with the longhouse chief and his committee to solve the matter before they went to the police.
“The father had met longhouse chief and his committee twice (22 May and 7 June) to discuss the matter. However, it turned out to be a dead end as the suspect denied any involvement in the incident,” Gabriel said.
