A 75-year-old resident of one of the villages in Stryi district has been detained on suspicion of molesting an 11-year-old girl. If convicted, he faces up to eight years in prison.
According to law enforcement officers, the incident took place on 10 June at around 20:30. The man allegedly invited his 11-year-old neighbour, who was cycling past his property, into his house, after which he locked the front door from the inside and committed lewd acts against her.
Hearing the child’s screams and crying, the girl's mother, together with a fellow villager, forced open the door to the house, stopped the suspect's actions and called the police on the emergency line 102.
An investigative team and juvenile police officers from the Stryi District Police Department attended the scene. The man was detained under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.
Investigators of the Stryi District Police Department, under the procedural supervision of the Stryi District Prosecutor's Office, served the detainee with a notice of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 156 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (corruption of minors). The sanction of this article provides for a sentence of imprisonment for a term of five to eight years, with a possible additional ban on holding certain positions or engaging in certain activities for up to three years or without such a ban.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.