Judge Sentences Father to 20 Years for Raping Own Daughter

By Salai Thant Zin 1 December 2016

PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Division — A local court in Irrawaddy Division sentenced a father to 20 years in prison on Wednesday after he was found guilty of raping his own daughter on several occasions.

Myaungmya District Court found the defendant, U Han Ngway of Wakema Township, guilty of raping his 19-year-old daughter. Beginning in June 2015, that father used to take his daughter out on a fishing boat, and on several evenings he raped her on the boat, according to the police investigation. The victim kept silent about the rape, she said, because her father had threatened to kill her.

The crime came to light when the victim’s sister discovered the victim was five months pregnant.

“The girl’s mother has already died, and her father has married again, so she was living together with her step-mother. The girl’s sister had been living in Rangoon, and when she came back home for her wedding reception, she found out that her sister was impregnated by their father,” police Sub-Lt Khin Maung Than told The Irrawaddy.

The victim then filed a complaint against her father at the local police station. Police arrested him and brought him to trial at Myaungmya District Court. Following five months of court proceedings, the man was found guilty. On Wednesday, the trial judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison, which is the maximum penalty for rape under Burma’s Penal Code.

The victim has already given birth to a baby girl, according to the police.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.