‘Left behind’ girl, aged 11, falls victim to sexual abuse by villagers

Ten Guangxi villagers have been found guilty and sentenced to prison terms for sexually abusing an 11-year-old primary school girl, Chinese media has revealed, underscoring the vulnerability of “left behind” children and the government’s policy of increasing protection for them.

A local court found each of the accused, who come from a village near the city of Yulin and are aged between 40 and 70, guilty of having abused the victim multiple times over the past two years, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported on Wednesday.

One of the abusers, who was 60 years old at the time, had intercourse with the girl 15 times, the court heard.

The defendants and their family members asked for leniency as they argued the girl had accepted money after each of the abuses. But the judge found nine of the defendants guilty of rape, and one of child molestation. Those guilty of rape were sentenced to between 7 and 11 years in jail and child molestation conviction drew two-and-a-half years.

Under China’s legal system, adults found having sexual intercourses with children under the age of 14 are charged with rape. In some circumstances, however, the sexual relations are ruled as “underage prostitution” if there is clear evidence to indicate that offenders were unaware of the age of the child and there was an element of prostitution involved in the case.

The victim, who lived with her grandparents when the offences occurred, is part of a group dubbed the “left-behind” children, whose parents are absent because they are working in more economically-developed areas.