Teen escapes 12 years after abduction; school bus driver arrested
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A Colombian school bus driver has been arrested on rape and kidnapping charges after a girl he allegedly snatched over a decade ago managed to escape, authorities said Thursday.
The victim went missing 12 years ago at age seven.
She escaped in February and reported her alleged abuser, who was arrested in the city of Medellin last week, a statement from the prosecutor's office said.
After being kidnapped, the girl was moved for years between addresses in Medellin and nearby Bello, and allegedly raped on camera.
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Her captor, named as Carlos Humberto Grisales Higuita in the statement that also included his photo, allegedly changed the girl's name, kept her out of sight and out of school.
The suspect faces charges of kidnapping, raping a minor and producing child sexual abuse material.
The prosecutor's office said the man had "psychologically manipulated" the girl "into making her believe that this type of behavior is normal."
When she was 16, the alleged victim confronted her captor, which prompted him to lock her in a house from which she escaped earlier this year, prosecutors said.
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The man appeared in court last week and denied all charges. He was ordered held in pre-trial detention.
Recently exposed cases of child sex abuse in Medellin, including by foreign tourists, has prompted a wave of indignation in Colombia.
The city of 2.5 million people registered 139 cases of child sexual exploitation between January and August this year, according to municipal data.
Fourteen foreigners have been arrested in Medellin this year for child sex abuse.
In April, the case of an American visitor who was arrested after entering a hotel with two girls, only to be released later, led the city hall to ban street prostitution in its tourist areas.
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Child sexual assault offenders often go unpunished in the country. The non-profit Colombia Reports, citing a Prosecutor General's victim database, reported earlier this year that only 1,389 people were convicted for sexual violence against children since 2018 -- less than 2% of the children examined by doctors because of alleged sexual violence during the same period.
According to Children Change Colombia, 200,000 minors are sexually abused each year in the country. A 2021 Violence Against Children Survey found that two out of five of the Colombia's youth had experienced violence before the age of 18,
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