Man caught attempting to rape 4-year-old boy at Istanbul hospital

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

A man was caught attempting to rape a 4-year-old boy last week at Haseki Hospital, one of Istanbul's oldest health institutions located in the Fatih district. DHA Photo

A man was caught attempting to rape a 4-year-old boy last week at Istanbul’s Haseki Hospital, the Health Employees Union has said, adding that the individual has been taken into custody following the incident.

In a separate statement, the Health Ministry said the individual, identified only as C.U., was prevented from carrying out his act due to the intervention of hospital workers.

Officials said the mother of the boy, who was in hospital for treatment of a respiratory infection, had entrusted the boy to C.U., who she described as his “uncle.”

“The mother of the boy told the health personnel that she had to go home and the boy would stay with the individual who she said was his uncle. Shortly after, a doctor and a nurse entered the [boy’s] room during a medical visit and caught the individual sexually abusing the boy. He was immediately handed over to the police,” health union member Aydın Erol said.

Following his detention, it was learned that C.U. was not actually the boy’s uncle, as the mother claimed, but only an acquaintance. He has since been sent to court after interrogation.
The Health Ministry said the boy was now under the care of social services.

“The social service specialist of the hospital contacted the provincial directorate of the Family and Social Policies Ministry. Following an evaluation of the case it was advised to have the child taken under protection. He was then taken under protection by the judicial authorities,” the ministry’s statement said.

However, Erol denounced the lack of necessary measures to prevent such incidents from happening in the first place, and called for more supervision.

“Although domestic violence, child abuse, child marriages and women murders are increasing exponentially, the government isn’t adopting any measures. We are warning the government: If you want to say ‘stop’ to this trend, you should increase the frequency of monitoring. Work in coordination with unions,” he said.

Many cases of child abuse and child murders have been reported this year, prompting the government to prepare a new law increasing the sentences of sex crimes and particularly child abuse.

However, the law has been criticized by rights associations, which said they had not been consulted and which also claimed that the provisions of the law would actually lead to lesser sentences for criminals, instead of tougher ones.