by Colleen Barilae – EM TV, Lae
Criminal Investigators heading the Sexual Offence Section of the Lae Metropolitan Command, say at least five sexual offences are reported to the Lae Police Station in a week.
They said the increase in number of sexual offences is contributed by people having access to pornographic material on the internet.
An estimated 50 cases occur every week, but most do not get reported.
Mary Watah is one of the three criminal investigators dealing with all forms of sexual offence cases at Lae Metropolitan sexual offence unit.
She and her team are confronted everyday with sexual offences involving minors, both young girls and boys.
Mary said the rate of minor offences committed against young girls aged as young as 6 years old, has become a growing concern and a sad fact for the Lae community.
In a month, an average of 14 cases are reported to the Lae Police station. They involve rape, incest or any other form of sexual penetrations.
Most of the cases are committed by immediate family members or by persons the victims trust.
With the increase in sexual offences within a family, the Sexual Office Secction in Lae are advising parents to be mindful of young girls especially when living amongst male relatives in the same house.
SOU is also advising young girls who are victims of sexual offences to speak to someone they trust or report the matter to police within 24 hours of the incident so the perpetrators can be dealt with by the law.
Only the reported cases are lawfully dealt with but many others remain unreported, or are solved outside of normal police investigations through way of compensation.
