3 arrests for group sexual violence on girl, 12

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 22 - Italian police on Thursday arrested three men on suspicion of group sexual violence against a 12-year-old girl.
    The men, all Indian like the alleged victim, were staying in the girl's parents home at Fondi near Latina south of Rome when they took advantage of the father's absences for work to sexually abuse the girl on several occasions, telling her not to say anything about it, police said.
    The probe was opened after a complaint from the girl's mother.
    The alleged abuse took place during the COVID lockdown, from March to April, police said.
    Police questioned the alleged victim in a protected environment, trying to mitigate the trauma of reliving what she went through, police said.
    Police said the reconstruction of events had been "precise and accurate" and "corroborated by a medical examiner's findings".
    The alleged perpetrators were sent away from the home in July despite the parents not knowing about the alleged abuse, for other reasons.
    The arrests were also made because of a flight risk due to the fact that the accused are in the process of regularizing their position in Italy.
    Tow of them were tracked down in Fondi and one in Pordenone in the far north of Italy.
    All three were detained in local prisons, police said. (ANSA).