A man in Australia has been charged with drugging a missing child with methamphetamine before allegedly raping her, according to The Courier Mail.
“Police have charged a Brisbane man with one count of rape, indecent treatment of a child under 18, and administering a drug for the purpose of engaging in a sexual act,” a spokesperson for Queensland Police Service told Newsweek.
The spokesperson said they couldn’t comment further as it was an active investigation.
The Mail reported that the child was allegedly discovered by police naked, drugged, and raped at the 48-year-old suspect’s residence on Rocky Passage Road in Redland Bay, near Brisbane. The suspect was charged on Sunday and the child was removed from the property that day.
Police were examining the property on Tuesday after the man was removed and taken to the Cleveland watch house, the newspaper report said. He later appeared in court and didn’t enter any pleas.
“The man was remanded in custody and is due to reappear in Cleveland Magistrates Court later this month,” the police spokesperson told Newsweek.
Newsweek also asked if police could confirm reports or provide any other details related to the case but was told this was not possible as the matter was before the courts.
“We are downloading data from a mobile phone and swabs from both the child and the defendant have been taken,” Police Prosecutor Angela Tetley told The Courier Mail.
“As a consequence there will be a lot more charges to come,” she added.
Separately, a woman was sentenced to three years in prison by a Melbourne court after pressuring her daughter to marry a man who would go on to murder her.
Sakina Muhammad Jan became the first woman to receive a conviction under Australia’s forced marriage laws in July after Ruqia Haidari, her daughter, was coerced to marry Mohammad Ali Halimi.
Halimi was handed a life sentence in 2021 after being found guilty of murdering Haidari a mere six weeks after the pair were wed.
Police said Haidari had been in contact with a specialist human trafficking team in 2019, claiming that she was being forced into a marriage by her family. One of her friend’s told “60 Minutes Australia” Haidari wished instead to continue her education and become a nurse.
“She was offered police intervention, protection, and emergency safety planning. For wellbeing support, including alternative accommodation, she was referred to the Red Cross Support for Trafficked People Program (STPP) on a number of occasions,” a police report stated.
The remains of a missing 12-year-old believed to have been killed by a crocodile were recovered by police in the country’s Northern Territory last month.
The unnamed young girl was reported missing after swimming at Mango Creek, a remote creek around 220 miles southwest of Darwin. Her injuries were consistent with a crocodile attack, police said.
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