A Colombian school bus driver was arrested on rape and kidnapping charges after a girl he allegedly kidnapped more than a decade ago managed to escape, authorities said Thursday.
The victim disappeared 12 years ago, at the age of seven.
She fled in February and denounced her alleged attacker, arrested last week in the city of Medellin, a statement from the prosecution said.
After being kidnapped, the girl was moved for years between addresses in Medellin and nearby Bello, and was allegedly raped on camera.
Her captor, named Carlos Humberto Grisales Higuita in the statement that also included her photo, allegedly changed the girl’s name, kept her out of sight and out of school.
Attorney General of Colombia
The suspect faces charges of kidnapping, rape of a minor and production of child pornography.
The prosecution said the man had “psychologically manipulated” the girl “by making her believe that this type of behavior was normal”.
When she was 16, the alleged victim confronted her captor, prompting him to lock her in a house she had escaped from earlier this year, prosecutors said.
The man appeared in court last week and denied all charges. He was placed in pre-trial detention.
Recently revealed cases of sexual abuse of children in Medellin, particularly by foreign tourists, have sparked a wave of indignation in Colombia.
The city of 2.5 million recorded 139 cases of child sexual exploitation between January and August this year, according to municipal data.
Fourteen foreigners were arrested in Medellin this year for child sexual abuse.
In April, the case of a American visitor arrested after entering a hotel with two girls, only to be released, led the city hall to ban street prostitution in its tourist areas.
Child sex offenders often go unpunished in the country. The nonprofit Colombia Reports, citing a database of victims of the attorney general, reported earlier this year that only 1,389 people have been convicted of child sexual abuse since 2018, or less than 2% of children examined by doctors due to suspected sexual abuse during the same period.
According to Children are changing Colombia200,000 minors are sexually abused each year in the country. A 2021 Investigation into violence against children found that two in five young Colombians had been victims of violence before the age of 18,