Child rape victim dies of injuries in Burao hospital, Somaliland

[Deeq A.]

BURAO–A nine-year-old girl has died in a Burao Hospital on Saturday, after she was raped at her home in Galkayo just over a week ago, family and official confirmed.

Halimo Abdirizak Salad was taken to Burao Hospital by her step-father – who stands accused of her rape –  following urinary complications.

Halimo’s mother, Fathiya Mohamed who said the doctors at the hospital confirmed the rape case after examining her daughter.

” The doctors told us that the girl was raped following the outcome of the examination done on my daughter’s case,” said Mohamed.

Raped by step-father

Ms. Mohamed noted that she was informed her daughter was raped by her husband who is also the victims.

” The doctors suspect Halimo was raped by her stepfather in Galkayo before he took her to the hospital,” said the victim’s mother.

the Deputy Governor of Togdher, Mohamed Diriye Hayd termed the rape as an atrocious case.

“We heard of this shocking case which is uncommon in this world, a young girl was raped by a man who was identified as a husband of her mother. The man who is from Galkayo had taken the girl, who was in critical condition, to a hospital here in Burao town. The doctors asked him to come with her (the girl’s ) parents after they had known the girl was raped. He went to a public notary and got forged parental document” said Hayd.

Detained by CID 

Hayd confirmed that the man was detained at the CID centre where the officers currently investigating the case.

“The doctors who were not certified by the parental document provided by the man phoned the Criminal Investment Department  (CID) officers.  He has since been detained by officers, ” he said.

He added that the victim’s mother has been contacted and notified.

” The mother of the raped confirmed that the arrested man was not the biological father of the victim after we contacted her, ” Hayd explained.

Twelve days in a mortuary

The victim’s uncle who flew from Mogadishu after he was informed of the incident, said the girl succumbed to the injuries while she was undergoing treatment at the hospital.

” I travelled from Mogadishu after I was informed about the incident that took place on the 16th of this month,” he noted.

The uncle highlighted that the body of deceased has been in mortuary since the day the girl passed away at the hospital.

” The body of girls has been in the hospital for twelve days and now the man who raped the girl is reportedly detained by authorities,” he said.

He called on the authorities of the breakaway Somaliland to bring the perpetrator before a court.

Both Puntland, where the crime was committed; and Somaliland, where the suspect has been detained, have passed rape laws.

Rapists in Somaliland and Puntland can receive up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.

In January 2017, a Galdogob court sentenced five teenagers to a combined sentence of 36 years imprisonment and 700 lashes and a fine of US$ 14,220.

The ‘Galdogob’ five case should have been the first test for Puntland’s Sexual Offences Act – enacted November 29, 2016 – but
meddling from local elders who refused to transfer the case to Galkayo hindered the implication of the law.

Somaliland’s rape law was just passed on January 8th of this year, and thus, not yet tested in court.

HOL