A

n orphanage is by definition a refuge for vulnerable children, a safe place that provides care and security for young ones without parents to protect them.

Alas, this may not have been the case at the Al Hijrah orphanage in Dungingi district, Gorontalo city.

The orphanage appears to have been such a fearful place that a 14-year-old resident was forced to flee from it, and she has vowed never to return after allegedly being sexually abused by the owner, identified only
as IS, 42.

The orphanage, which is home to 79 young people, reportedly witnessed the sexual abuse of at least six girls who lived there.

Al Hijrah is known to be a special shelter for children in legal difficulties. Some poor families have also left their children to be cared for at the orphanage.

Gorontalo Police arrested IS and named him a suspect following the reports of the abuse, police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Ary Donny said.

“On Thursday night we arrested the alleged perpetrator and the following day, Friday, he was named a suspect,” he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

The issue came to light when the parents of the girl who ran away from the orphanage told local police about the alleged abuse on Thursday. The girl’s parents had placed her in the care of the orphanage.

The alleged victim insisted that she did not want to go back to the orphanage because she claimed IS had been abusing her.

The police were informed and upon investigation five other girls, ranging in age from 14 to 16, also alleged that they had been abused by IS.

According to the reports, the abuse began last year.

Ary said the investigators had so far questioned 10 witnesses. The police have also conducted medical examinations of the six girls.

Police have charged IS under the 2014 Law on child protection. He could face a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment if proven guilty in court, Ary added.

Separately, the secretary of the Gorontalo provincial Child Protection Agency (LPA), Salhuddin Idri, condemned the reported sexual abuse, saying that the LPA would oversee the case until the perpetrator, if found guilty, received the sentence he deserved.

“There is no other reason, the [alleged] perpetrator has to be punished with the maximum sentence, especially considering his status as the owner of an orphanage supposed to offer protection to children,” he said.

Salhuddin applauded the police’s swift actions in investigating the case.

He hoped that the maximum sentence for child abuse would be handed down by the court if the suspect was found guilty. “Let’s for once give him 15 years, to have a deterrent effect,” he said.

He added that the number of cases of sexual violence against children in Gorontalo province was relatively high.

The LPA received reports of 40 cases throughout last year while six more cases had been reported to the agency as of March this year. These did not include cases handled by local police in the six regions in the province.

The cases, he said, included alleged sexual abuse committed by male teachers against their female students.