HYDERABAD: A 34-year-old kirana store owner who raped his 12-year-old neighbour in 2014, was sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment in Vikarabad district. Pokala Shiva took the victim with him to a bakery under the pretext of offering a cake and raped her brutally in the kitchen. While the bakery owner and workers turned hostile during the trial, the victim’s evidence accompanied by medical evidence proved the accused’s guilt, said Public Prosecutor K Raji Reddy who made submissions before the Metropolitan Sessions Court at LB Nagar.
The accused and the victim were neighbours. The victim regularly visited his shop. On the day of the offence, when the girl was alone at home, Shiva offered to buy a cake for her from a bakery owned by his friend. He took her into the kitchen area under the pretext of showing her the cake-making process.
There he brutally raped her, leaving her with bleeding injuries. Before dropping her back home, he threatened to kill her parents if she revealed the matter to them.
When the girl complained of pain in her private parts, she was taken to a doctor by her parents who confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted. The parents lodged a complaint at Vikarabad police station. The court delivered the judgement after six years of the offence.