Lahraouiyine: young man arrested for sexual assault on minor thanks to WhatsApp confessions
A man in his twenties has been held in preventative custody in Casablanca after sexually assaulting a teenage girl. His own WhatsApp messages incriminated him.
Lahraouiyine: WhatsApp messages expose alleged child assailant
A man in his twenties has been held in preventative custody by the public prosecutor's office at the Casablanca Court of Appeal after being arrested for sexual assault on a teenage minor in Lahraouiyine, a locality situated approximately ten kilometres south-east of Casablanca. According to Aujourd'hui Le Maroc, it was his own messages exchanged on WhatsApp with the victim that constituted the decisive evidence of his guilt.
The facts came to the attention of the Lahraouiyine royal gendarmerie when the victim's father presented himself at the station accompanied by his daughter, still a minor. He stated that his daughter had been led by the suspect to a vacant lot before being sexually assaulted. When questioned by investigators, the teenager confirmed the facts and provided details on the circumstances of the assault.
Acting on instructions from the public prosecutor's office, the investigation was directed towards identifying and summoning the suspect. Confronted by the gendarmes, the latter contested the version provided by the victim and her father, acknowledging a relationship with the teenager and sexual intercourse, but asserting that it was consensual. He denied any violence or coercion. Based on these statements, investigators released him pending a new summons.
The suspect then took advantage of his freedom to flee. His disappearance immediately aroused the suspicion of the gendarmes, who decided to deepen the investigation by examining the nature of communications between the young man and the minor. This is when the case took a turn.
Investigators from the royal gendarmerie analysed WhatsApp conversations between the suspect and the victim. Several passages of these exchanges contained explicit admissions, in which the suspect unambiguously admitted to having abducted and sexually assaulted the teenager. These written confessions were retained as decisive evidence by the investigators. A medical examination completed the case file, confirming that the young girl had indeed suffered sexual assault.
Armed with these elements, the gendarmes intensified their search to locate the fugitive. In coordination with the public prosecutor's office and with the help of informants, they finally proceeded with his arrest. Placed in police custody, the suspect was confronted with the conversations and other elements gathered during the investigation. Faced with this evidence, he reversed his initial statements and admitted to the facts alleged against him.
The public prosecutor's office at the Casablanca Court of Appeal decided to place him in preventative custody.
Source: Aujourd'hui Le Maroc