Police: Protection provided to toddler immediately after case was reported

Maldives authorities, on Saturday, said it took immediate action in response to the report of the sexual assault of a toddler at the hands of her family in Southern Maldives.

Maldives Police Service and Gender Ministry, in a joint statement, said that the Gender Ministry received report of the involvement of three men from the same family in the suspected sexual assault of a child under the age of two years at approximately 4:30 pm on Wednesday, January 15.

The police had been alerted after the victim’s family from her mother’s side tried and failed to transfer her to a safe environment based on the history of sexual harassment which ran in the victim’s family from her father’s side.

The information which the police received at the time had been that the grandfather, 62, was suspected of sexual offenses against the toddler, and that the great-grandfather, 81, had a history of sexual harassment against children, that the parents of the toddler both had criminal records, and that the toddler hadn’t been living in a safe environment since her mother had been transported out of the island due to a medical emergency, reads the statement.

The police complaint, based on all those factors, had been filed after the toddler’s father obstructed efforts to transfer her custody to her family on her mother’s side.

According to the statement, Gender Ministry caseworkers accompanied by police officers were dispatched to the to the toddler’s residence at approximately 7:30 pm the same night. They clarified information and took the toddler into the custody of the caseworkers to take her to the regional hospital for a medical assessment at approximately 8:45 pm.

The caseworkers took the toddler to the regional hospital at approximately 10:55 pm. The medial assessment confirmed the toddler’s injuries to be consistent with sexual assault, and temporary custody was granted to the toddler’s aunt.

A team of police officers had questioned persons of interest for further investigation into the case on Thursday, January 16, collected the necessary evidence and testimony, and applied for arrest warrants on Friday, January 17, based on which the toddler’s grandfather and great-grandfather were arrested between 3 pm to 3:25 pm.

The police placed the toddler’s father, 33, under arrest at approximately 7:30 pm the same night.

Meanwhile, the toddler was transported to Male’ City and hospitalized for further assessment of her injuries at approximately 8:30 pm the same night.

The case under joint investigation by the police and Gender Ministry.