Sexual abuse victims to report to police

Sexual abuse victims to report to police

JAKARTA (JP): The police cannot fully guarantee solving all
sexual abuse cases from last month's riots due to several basic
investigation obstacles, an officer said yesterday.

One of the critical problems always facing police in such
cases is the reluctance of many victims to report incidents to
the police, City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said.

"The victims usually feel embarrassed.

"The police have yet to receive any accusations or reports of
sexual abuse during the recent riots," he said.

He said he hoped victims would report any cases personally or
through other parties, including non-government organizations, so
police could immediately start an investigation.

The amount of time passed between the incident and the time
the crime is reported is a major factor affecting the chance that
a case can be successfully completed.

"For instance, if a sex crime occurs and the victim reports it
weeks later, the physical evidence is already gone and the
victim's memory about the incident probably becomes blurred,"
Aritonang said.

The more details the victim can provide, the greater chance
the police have in apprehending the perpetrator, he added.

The women's rights group Mitra Perempuan yesterday claimed to
have been informed of more than 20 sexual abuse cases from May 13
to May 15, when looting and burning rocked the city.

Although the group did not identify the victims, it said many
of them were of Chinese descent.

In a statement, Mitra Perempuan said angry mobs stripped and
molested a number of Chinese-Indonesian women before forcing them
to swim in a pond somewhere in the Daan Mogot area.

The group also received reports that a number of women were
raped in front of an onlooking crowd in Glodok, while dozens of
other women were sexually harassed in their homes. (edt)