Police have arrested a 33-year-old man and named him a suspect for the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl in Bali’s Buleleng regency.
Police say that the incident only came to light after the victim’s parents went looking for her on Feb. 6 following a period of absence. When she was eventually found, her parents had become suspicious and went to check her phone, where they found text exchanges with a man about “paying for a room.”
After some questioning, the victim then told her parents that she was in a relationship with the suspect, identified as PSY, who she met not too long ago. She later told her parents about the rape, leading them to file a police report.
PSY was arrested at his home on Wednesday.
According to the police, PSY had taken the victim to a room, located at the house of a friend, and coerced her into sex. The suspect ignored the victim’s silent response to his advances and told her to take off her clothes before raping her.
“We’re still looking into the motive because the suspect is not being honest, and he has yet to admit [to his crime],” Buleleng precinct spokesman Gede Sumarjaya told reporters today.
The suspect may face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison under Indonesia’s Child Protection Law.
