Suspected child molester caught

DENPASAR, Bali: Police arrested on Thursday afternoon a man suspected of sexually molesting a two-year-old girl in Taman Hamlet of Kerobokan village, some eight kilometers west of Denpasar.

"Fortunately, the officers came in time, otherwise the suspect would have been mobbed to death by the girl's relatives and neighbors," Badung Police detective chief Sr. Insp. Husein Abubakar said on Friday.

The 19-year-old man, Fachturosi, whose barber shop is in front of the victim's house, confessed that he had entered the room of the two-year-old at 2 p.m. and then sexually molested her but he denied allegations that he had raped the girl.

"I was in the process of removing her underwear when her mother entered the room and furiously attacked me," he said.

The mother also screamed hysterically for help, drawing dozens of her relatives and neighbors to the scene who unceasingly beat him until police officers arrived and took him to the Kuta police station.

After a short interrogation, Fachturosi was transferred to the Badung Police precinct for security reasons.

"We are afraid the victim's family might harm him," a police officer said. (zen/lup)