Teenager escapes 12 years after kidnapping; The school bus driver was arrested

Authorities said Thursday that a Colombian school bus driver was arrested on rape and kidnapping charges after a girl he allegedly kidnapped more than a decade ago managed to escape.

The victim disappeared 12 years ago at the age of seven.

She escaped in February and reported her alleged attacker, who was arrested in the city of Medellin last week, a statement of the prosecutor’s office he said.

After her kidnapping, the girl was shuttled between addresses in Medellin and nearby Bello for years and then allegedly raped on camera.

Her abductor, named in the affidavit, which also included a photo of himself, as Carlos Humberto Grisales Higuita, 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 creating materials depicting child sexual abuse.

The prosecutor’s office said the man “psychologically manipulated” the girl, “telling her that this type of behavior was normal.”

When she was 16, the alleged victim had a meeting with her kidnapper, prompting him to lock her in the house from which she escaped earlier this year, prosecutors say.

The man appeared in court last week and denied all allegations. He was ordered to be temporarily detained.

Recently revealed cases of child sexual abuse in Medellin, including by foreign tourists, have sparked a wave of outrage in Colombia.

According to city data, 139 cases of child sexual abuse were registered between January and August this year in the city of 2.5 million inhabitants.

Fourteen foreigners have been arrested in Medellin this year on charges of child sexual abuse.

In April, the case American guy who was arrested after entering a hotel with two girls and later being fired, he led city hall to ban street prostitution in tourist areas.

Perpetrators of sexual violence against children often go unpunished in this country. The non-profit organization Colombia Reports, citing the Attorney General’s victim database, was reported earlier this year that since 2018, only 1,389 people have been convicted of sexual violence against children – less than 2% of children examined by doctors for alleged sexual violence in the same period.

According to Children are changing ColombiaEvery year, 200,000 minors are sexually exploited in this country. 2021 Study on violence against children found that two in five young Colombians experienced violence before the age of 18,

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