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Rabat – Moroccan police forces arrested on Sunday a pedophile suspect who is said to be responsible for raping nine underage girls in the Sidi Kacem province in the Rabat-Sale-Kenitra region.
The sixty-three-year-old man worked as a security guard in a health center near a school, where he groomed and assaulted his victims, local police said in a statement. He will be presented to the court of law in Kenitra next week, added the statement.
The activities of the man came to light after the local newspaper, Le12, published a story about his attempt to rape two schoolgirls.
As the underage girls lived far from their school, they frequently spent the classes-free noon period in the health center where the man worked as security guard.
According to the local newspaper, he attempted to force his way with one girl, but she managed to escape. He then proceeded to forcefully rape the second girl, causing her to faint.
The girl was taken to a nearby hospital, where the doctor discovered signs of sexual assault across her body. The victim also suffered from sharp pains and bleeding, according to the local newspaper.
The doctor who examined the sexually abused underage girl then wrote a medical note confirming that the girl had been raped. The girl’s family delivered the note to the Royal gendarmerie station in Ain Defali town in Sidi Kacem at the doctor’s request, leading to the security guard’s arrest.
According to reports, the man had been grooming and assaulting his victims for over six months. He preyed on girls from very poor rural areas with gifts of money and clothes, it has been revealed. One of the girls admitted that she received around MAD 30 ($3) from the security guard.
The cringe-inducing news of a pedophile exploiting the poverty of underage girls to rape them comes amid a sea of similar reports of sexual and physical abuse of children across Morocco. Several reports said that there are victims that suffered rectal and vaginal lacerations as a result of forced sexual intercourse with the man.
In September 2020, news went viral of an 11-year-old boy being raped and killed by a 24-year man in the northern Moroccan city of Tangier, prompting many activists to call on authorities to strengthen the legal framework to protect children.
Earlier this year, in January, the Cassation Court in Rabat condemned the 24-year-old man with a death sentence.
Read also: Cassation Court Confirms Death Penalty for Rapist, Killer of 11-year Old Adnane
According to article 485 of Morocco’s Criminal Code, sexual abuse of children and minors is punishable with a prison sentence ranging from 12 to 20 years. But with cases of child abuse seeming to be on the rise, many have called on the government to consider the application of the death penalty in all cases of pedophilia.
