ABHA, 9 December 2007 — Two girls who may have been sexually assaulted have remained in a hospital for 11 days without having been examined by doctors to check for physical evidence of rape, Arab News learned yesterday.

Two girls, aged 13 and 11, were allegedly sexually abused by their 15-year-old brother.

The brother reportedly admitted to the assault on the 13-year-old girl but denied any attack on the younger sister. The boy is currently being held at a local juvenile detention center. He reportedly blames the influence of pornographic movies he got from friends.

A source close to the case said the 11-year-old girl also accused an uncle of some form of harassment though it’s unclear if this meant sexual harassment or some other forms of physical abuse. Authorities are looking for the uncle to question him.

A source at the hospital told Arab News that doctors refused to examine the girls for physical evidence of a crime, even though the Asir police had ordered them to do so. They said collecting evidence was the responsibility of the government’s medical examiner.

Both girls were brought to the hospital in very bad shape, the source said. “Their health was poor and they looked bad. They didn’t want to talk at first,” it said.

The source had said in an interview last week that the hospital staff was unable to examine the girls without the prior permission of a judge or legal guardian, which in this case is the father.

Time is of the essence when hospitals receive possible victims of rape because physical evidence can disappear in relatively short periods of time. For example, if the girls have not been examined by now, DNA evidence of rape (if there was any) is probably gone.

While there is no formal procedure for how doctors are supposed to address possible rape victims in Saudi Arabia, it is common for doctors to take initiative (and in fact have the authority to do so) to examine patients and inform the authorities if they find evidence of rape.

Typically doctors are the first to receive rape victims and therefore play instrumental roles in collecting physical evidence and informing authorities. Many countries have a codified system that doctors are compelled to follow when they receive victims of crime, especially rape.

The girls are being kept at the hospital by social workers until arrangements can be made to give their mother full custody.

The girls belong to a poor family in Khamis Mushayt in the southwest of the Kingdom. The girls live with their father and three siblings.

The children’s mother, who lives and works in Jeddah as a cleaner, is divorced and sends SR1,000 for the children each month. She also regularly telephones them, but is oblivious of the abuse. The mother, however, had sought help from the authorities to obtain custody of her two girls.

According to the hospital source, the father is an alcoholic and social workers are concerned about returning the girls back to someone grappling with addiction.