The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Aya Al Deeb, Staff Reporter

A four-year-old Khaleejiyah girl was raped by her 15-year-old cousin during her stay at her aunt’s home for a week. The girl had to stay at her aunt’s house, because her mother was in hospital for the birth of her brother.

The matter was discovered when the girl returned to her parents’ home after her younger brother was born. She was suffering from constant terror, involuntary urination, she was also screaming during sleep due to nightmares, as well as suffered a loss of appetite. The parents initially thought that what happened to her was out of her jealousy towards the newborn.

The mother kept asking her daughter about what had happened. She told her that she was afraid of being killed by her teenage cousin. She asked her parents to ask him to stop what he was doing with her because it was very hurtful. The teenage cousin also told her that he would slaughter her father and mother if she told them about what he did with her, the girl added.

She described what he did by explicit and shameful words that are not commensurate with her age, noting that her cousin was the one who told her those words.

The girl’s father could not control his indignation on what he heard from his daughter. He rushed to his sister in law’s house and confronted the teenager with his crime in front of his father. He beat him up before heading to the competent authorities, where he lodged a complaint against the boy accusing him of raping his daughter.

The accused confessed before the prosecution that he exploited  when his cousin was alone with him in the house and his mother spent most of the time with her sister in the hospital. He raped the girl, after terrifying her that he would kill her parents if she told them what he had done with her. He also noted that he was watching pornographic movies with his friends and tried to apply what he saw on his cousin.

Based on the confessions of the accused he was admitted into the juvenile care centre.

Meanwhile, the victim was referred for psychological treatment.

The doctor in charge of her case confirmed the possibility of her recovery as she is still young and not fully aware of the incident.

Last month, a building’s watchman who habitually raped a mentally challenged teen whenever her mother went her way, was sentenced to  25 years behind bars. The Asian defendant, 21, sexually assaulted the 18-year-old Iraqi victim inside her mother’s apartment on several occasions in August last year, taking advantage of her mental illness and the absence of her mother.