CHILE
New Straits Times (Singapore)
SANTIAGO (AFP) – With the country in an uproar over the brutal rape and death of a 20-month-old toddler, Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera on Thursday backed plans to lift the statute of limitations on sex crimes against minors.
The move came just days after 20-month-old Ambar was taken to a hospital in the central Los Andes region by her aunt and legal guardian, who claimed she had fallen off a bed.
But medics who examined her quickly realised the toddler had been raped, with the paediatrician telling Chile’s La Tercera daily he had “never” seen such levels of abuse in his 18 years of experience.
Despite undergoing immediate surgery, she did not survive, in a case of brutality which has badly shaken conservative Chile, sparking calls for a return of the death penalty.
The alleged perpetrator is believed to be the aunt’s partner, who has been arrested on suspicion of “rape and murder.”
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