Trial of father accused of rape leading to death of 17-month-old baby

A hearing on the case of a father accused of raping his 17-month-old baby was held at Branch 5 of the Criminal Court of Tehran Province. The baby was sexually abused by his father in the city of Rey and died after being taken to the hospital. The forensic doctor has declared the cause of death of the baby to be internal bleeding caused by sexual abuse.

According to HRANA news agency, citing Rokna, a hearing on the case of a father accused of raping his 17-month-old baby was held in Branch 5 of the Criminal Court of Tehran Province.

According to the report, the trial began while the mother of the 17-month-old baby, who was the plaintiff, was not present in court, and her lawyers were present. One of the plaintiff's lawyers said at the hearing: "We are trying to obtain the plaintiff's consent and perhaps we will soon be able to present her notarized consent to the court."

Then the 44-year-old defendant, who is from Afghanistan, took the defense position and said: "I do not accept the accusations. That day, when I woke up, I saw that Sahar was in a bad mood. I think one of our neighbors raped her, and that is why I am suing him."

The judge said to the defendant, "But in your previous statements you confessed to rape leading to murder and you wrote your statements in your own handwriting. How can you make a new claim now?"

The defendant stated, "I didn't say those words."

Finally, after hearing the defendant's defense, the court judges renewed the hearing to invite his 11-year-old daughter and hear her statements.

In the first days of Farvardin this year, a young woman brought her 17-month-old daughter to the hospital and said that today I went out to shop and left the child with her father, but when I returned home, I realized that my daughter was not feeling well. My child developed a fever a few hours later, so I brought her to the hospital. When the doctors examined the child, they found that she had been abused and had suffered severe internal bleeding; so they reported the matter to the Rey city police.

Regarding who abused her child, she said: "I don't know who did this. I didn't leave the child with a stranger. My daughter was with her father."

The defendant was then arrested and interrogated based on his wife's words. He initially denied everything but later confessed to his actions.

This is despite the fact that the forensic doctor announced in his report to the prosecution that Sanaz died due to internal bleeding and the severity of injuries resulting from extremely violent child abuse, and her medical record shows that many efforts were made to save the child, but they were unsuccessful.

It should be noted that in the popular literature of licensed media, the word harassment is used to refer to rape and various forms of sexual harm.

Source: HRANA