The father of two of the four children rescued from Colombia’s Amazon rainforest in June, 40 days after the plane they were traveling in crashed, was charged with sexually abusing his eldest stepdaughter.
According to the AFP Colombian justice charged the man with “crimes of aggravated violent carnal relations and abuse of sexual acts” with a minoraccording to a court ruling issued on Saturday.
“The defendant is accused of abusing his stepdaughter Lesly since she was 10 years old,” the Colombian prosecutor’s office said, quoted by AFP.
Manuel Ranoque, a 47-year-old Huitoto Indian who denies the allegations, was arrested Friday and will be held in protective custody.
Lesly, now 13, was taking care of her younger siblings after the small plane she was traveling on with her mother crashed, killing her and the pilots.
The four children Lesly, nine-year-old Soleiny, five-year-old Tien Noriel and one-year-old Cristin were found in the Amazon rainforest 40 days after the accident in late June and had to be hospitalized for a month. .
The governor of the family’s native village, William Castro, said in statements to journalists at the time that “there was evidence” that the children now detained had raped the eldest child.
After the rescue, the children were taken care of by the now-detainee, but the minors’ maternal grandparents began a battle over custody of the grandchildren, accusing Ranoque of abusing the children’s mother.
Source: DN
