News
Swiss girl allegedly raped in A’pura shrub, no female JMO to support her case
The non-availability of a female Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital has denied the rights of a rape victim, a Swiss girl, who had insisted on a female doctor for the medical examination.
The Sunday Times learns the hospital was unable to provide a female JMO as the hospital’s JMOs are all male.
Hospital Director Dr. Lionel Muhandirange said the hospital had a consultant JMO and three Assistant JMOs and they were unable to conduct the examination.
He confirmed that the 22-year-old victim had visited the hospital on July 27 July claiming that she had been raped by a three-wheel driver. He said that when arrangements were made for the medical examination to be done, she had refused as the JMO was a male doctor.
Dr. Muhandirange said it was not mandatory that rape victims be examined by female doctors but if the patient insisted they need to oblige.
“It is the patient’s right, we have to respect their wishes,” he said.
The victim had said that she would get the test done in Colombo but there are no records of the victims seeking help in Colombo.
In the meantime, the Anuradhapura Tourist Police said the victim had not forwarded a report of the medical examination to be produced as evidence in court.
Inspector N. Ramyasiri said that they were able to charge the suspect only with kidnapping and holding the victim back against her wishes.
“She has handed over her undergarments and clothes to us and we will be producing them in courts as evidence and moving for a DNA test,” he said.
The girl, in disgust, along with three of her friends, had left the country the very next day.
Inspector Ramyasiri said the 35-year-old three-wheel driver who was absconding arrest was tracked down by using the recordings from the CCTV cameras in the guest houses he had visited. He was caught in the CCTV camera asking for a booking in the early hours of July 26.
The police suspect that having failed to get a room; he had driven away with the girl to a remote place and allegedly raped her in the shrubs.
The suspect has denied any wrong doing and said that the girl was drunk when he picked her up. He said that she could not tell him her destination and not knowing what to do he had dropped her on the road.
The girl was found by the police on July 26 around 6.45 sitting on the wayside. She did not remember anything that happened the previous night but said that she suspected that she was raped as her clothes were inside out and her under garments torn.
She said she and three of her friends (all university students) had come to Sri Lanka on July 10 and on July 24 had come to Anuradhapura and booked into a hotel. On July 25 she had joined with friends at a night club nearby her hotel and had got drunk.
Around 4 a.m. she had been walking alone back to the hotel she was booked into. But as she had lost her way she had stopped a three wheeler to get her to the hotel.
However, she did not arrive at the hotel. Early morning her friends who tried to contact her were alarmed to find that she had not reached the hotel that night. Following this, a complaint was made to the police through the hotel manager.
Repeated calls by friends, the hotel manager and the police to her mobile phone went unanswered. However, eventually she answered the phone around 6.45 a.m. revealing her location. She was found by the tourist police sitting near a Buddha statue close to temple in the Anuradhapura New town.
The suspect was arrested on July 30. He was produced in court and remanded. The case is to be taken up on August 11.