Girl, 8, sexually assaulted in Philippine prison while visiting inmate-father
An eight-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in a toilet at a Philippine prison on New Year’s Day, officials said on Saturday.
The girl, who was visiting her inmate-father at Bilibid prison in Manila, was found sprawled on the bathroom floor, naked from the waist down and with a rope tied around her neck, officials said.
Initial medical tests did not indicate that she had been raped.
Presidential spokesman Abigail Valte told AFP that the incident was "nothing short of deplorable".
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said an inmate had confessed to attacking the girl and would face additional criminal charges.
"He rendered her unconscious, strangled with the intention of raping her," Ms de Lima told local broadcaster ABS-CBN.
Sex dolls, stripper bar, jacuzzi
The assault came three weeks after a police raid of the notorious prison found stashes of drugs, cash and guns – as well as sex dolls, a stripper bar and a jacuzzi – spread across an astonishing network of air-conditioned “villas” built for powerful crime lords.
Bilibid, the nation’s biggest prison, is infamous for overcrowding and brutal conditions – it was built to accommodate 8,900 inmates but currently houses more than 23,000.
Philippine jails have long had a reputation for corruption, but the scale of privileges enjoyed by kingpins at Bilibid shocked the nation.
The government is "taking measures to stop any and all possible criminal acts inside the penitentiary", Ms Valte said.
Source: AFP
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