MAKKAH, 20 June 2007 — Police in Makkah have launched a massive search for a man who raped an eight-year-old girl on Monday. The man lured the girl who was playing in the street in front of her house in Al-Khalediya district to an abandoned building where he assaulted her.
Police received a report from the family of the girl’s disappearance after Isha prayer. Immediately police sealed off the area and, with the help of the secret police, an intensive search was begun.
The girl was found in an area near her house and was immediately taken to a hospital. The medical report stated that the girl had been raped and that she was in a very bad physical and mental condition.
According to the girl, she was playing in front of her house when the man took her to a nearby area where he raped her and then ran away.
The girl’s family is in shock and has expressed its anger, calling upon the authorities to find and arrest the perpetrator as soon as possible and before he can harm another child. They expressed hopes that he would be severely punished in order to serve as an example to others who might be considering such a crime.
Maj. Abdul Mohsin Al-Maiman, a Makkah police spokesman, said the police would not rest until the man is caught. He promised that the man would not escape from justice.
“The girl was in a very bad condition but she now has the best medical care. It is very important that families keep their eyes on children and not let them out unsupervised,” Al-Maiman told Arab News.
Dr. Rajab Al-Bersali, head of the Psychiatric Department at King Abdul Aziz Hospital in Makkah, said that attacks on children were a very dangerous problem that needed to be treated because it threatened society.
“Such criminals are sick and need to be taken off the streets. It is possible they might have been attacked when they were young and as a result, they retaliate against society by committing the same acts,” he said.
Al-Bersali noted that there were other problems that could lead to these crimes, such as unemployment and drugs. He called on social experts to study the problem and come up with solutions that would eliminate it.
