The original Dhivehi article was published on Mihaaru.com website on 21st November 2017.
The following is a loose translation:
Maldives High Court has maintained the sentence for the father who sexually assaulted his twins children in Noonu Atoll Manadhoo Island.
The sexual predator who is from an island from Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll, was sentenced by the Criminal Court, when he was convicted of assaulting the 12-year-old twins since the year 2011, on multiple occasions.
Although, the attacker’s identity is known, it is not disclosed here to protect the victims.
When he appealed the prison sentence, the High Court’s decision was based on reasonable evidence to overrule his appeal and to maintain the prison sentence.
The High Court’s ruling says that when both are claiming that he had assaulted both children, both had witnessed the other been assaulted by him. The sentence also said although the accused is their own father, the possibility of the accusations being fabricated has been ruled out.
‘A person with a right mind does not accept that the children are making a false claim of having witnessed sexual molestations and being sexually assaulted,’ the sentence said.
Apart from the statements given by the victims, they’ve given verbal testimony of having shared their ordeal with others. The ruling sentence also said along with their Medico-legal report, the other witnesses’ testimony was also not questionable. So based on all the evidence gathered, the defendant was convicted of committing child sexual abuse which was concluded unanimously by the 3 judges, the sentence stated.
The case was handled by Judge Abdulla Hameed, Judge Abdul Rauf Ibrahim and Judge Ali Samir.
