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.
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