THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The fast-track special court here has sentenced a 53-year-old autorickshaw driver for life imprisonment till death for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl, who used to travel in his autorickshaw to school. Judge R Jayakrishnan passed the sentence on Thrilok aka Ani, a resident of Chenchery near Nalanchira.
The convict has been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 75,000, failing which he will have to undergo 18 more months imprisonment, said Special Public Prosecutor R S Vijay Mohan. The girl, a Class IV student, was raped multiple times by the convict from 2012 November to 2013 March.
The prosecutor said girl’s parents had gone to Pathanamthitta for job and that was when she was subjected to aggravated penetrative sexual assault by Ani. The girl was then staying with her grandmother at Mottamoodu and Ani, being a friend of the girl’s father, was deputed to drop her at the school. Ani regularly took the girl to a secluded spot near East Fort and raped her inside the auto rickshaw.
Ani also facilitated the rape of the girl by one of his friends and silenced her by issuing a death threat. Due to sustained assault, the girl had developed infection in her private parts. The girl’s school teacher first rang the alarm bell after noticing the weird behaviour of Ani towards the child.
She found that something was amiss and talked to the child. When the child revealed her ordeal, the teacher conveyed the matter to the police. The probe was conducted by then Fort CI S Y Suresh. The prosecutor said the court found that Ani did not deserve any leniency as the victim was of his granddaughter’s age.