Karachi man admits raping, murdering three-year-old girl before court

KARACHI: Days after a three-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered in the city's Federal B Area, the accused, a rickshaw driver, on Monday confessed to committing both crimes before the court of a judicial magistrate.

According to police, the little girl — identified as Amna — was the youngest of six siblings, and her father is currently in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah. Escaping the notice of her family, she reportedly sneaked out of her home following her siblings when they left for school early in the morning of October 9 and was found dead shortly after.

Police presented the accused, Naseer, a neighbour of the victim's family before the court where he conceded that he had committed bot both crimes with his statement recorded under Section 164 of the code of criminal procedure (CrPC). The alleged rapist-murderer had already confessed his crime before police on October 10.

According to police, the accused stuffed the victim's body in a sack before dumping it on the street. He was handed over to the police by the community members. The body of the three-year-old was found near her house in Gulberg with a dupatta tied around her neck as a noose — indicating that she may have been strangled.

According to the police, in a CCTV footage, obtained by the law enforcers, the accused was spotted carrying the victim's body in a sack. The rape of the little girl was confirmed in the post-mortem report, the police said. The victim's body was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

Prevalence of sexual violence against women

According to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef), more than 370 million girls and women alive today, or one in every eight worldwide, experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18.

The number rises to 650 million, or one in five when taking into account "non-contact" forms of sexual violence, such as online or verbal abuse, Unicef reported, in what it called the first global survey of the problem.

Unicef said sexual violence cuts across geographical, cultural, and economic boundaries, but Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of victims, with 79 million girls and women, or 22% affected. Eastern and South-Eastern Asia follow with 75 million, or 8%.

In its data for women and girls, UNICEF estimated 73 million, or 9%, were affected in Central and Southern Asia; 68 million, or 14%, in Europe and Northern America; 45 million, or 18%, in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 29 million, or 15%, in Northern Africa and Western Asia.

Oceania, with 6 million, had the highest number affected by percentage, at 34%.