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Mentawai man allegedly raped teen daughter because she 'resembles ex-wife'

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Coconuts Jakarta - July 15, 2020

A man in Siberut Island, which is part of the Mentawai Islands in West Sumatra, allegedly raped and impregnated his teenage daughter.

The man, identified as 38-year-old K, has been apprehended by officers from the Sikabaluan sub-precinct.

"Based on the suspect's confession, his daughter looks like her mother, who is his ex-wife," Sikabaluan sub-precinct chief Jennedi said yesterday.

Jennedi said the suspect first raped his daughter, identified as 17-year-old M, last year in Palembang, where K was living for years. The incident reportedly started with K hugging M, saying that he missed her and her mother, as they had not seen each other since M was a newborn baby.

M then lived with his father in Palembang for some time, during which K divorced with M's mother and remarried with a woman from Palembang. The suspect then moved back to Mentawai with his new wife and M, where she was raped multiple times.

Police took K and M for questioning after receiving reports from their neighbors, who were concerned that a father impregnated his own daughter. After being questioned by the police, K finally admitted to his crime.

"The daughter said that they had the [incestuous] relationship based on consent without being pressured," Jennedi said.

M discovered she was pregnant when she was treated at a local community clinic (Puskesmas), accompanied by her aunt. She initially told her family that she was pregnant with her boyfriend's child, only to admit later that it was her father's.

K is currently detained at Sikabaluan sub-precinct and potentially faces 15 years in prison for statutory rape.

Incestuous sexual abuse is a taboo but widespread problem Indonesia. In their latest report published in March, the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) noted that out of 2,807 cases of violence against women in private or personal space in 2019, 822 were cases of incestuous rape, where the perpetrators were mainly the victims' fathers or uncles.

As for violence against girls, incestuous rapes make up the highest number with 770 cases out of 2,341, with the perpetrators mainly being the victims' fathers, stepfathers, or uncles.

Incestuous rape is an example of sexual violence in which familiar relations with the perpetrators are often cited as a hindering factor that stops victims from filing a report due to notions of "maintaining the good name of the family," part of a culture that's still entrenched across the country. Komnas Perempuan highlighted that fathers and uncles making up a significant portion of perpetrators in these cases show that family members are not necessarily protectors in the household as commonly assumed.

Source: https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/mentawai-man-allegedly-raped-teen-daughter-because-she-resembles-ex-wife

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