YANGON — A man who confessed to raping a 12-year-old girl in Kachin State’s Mogaung Township in February hanged himself in his prison cell early Tuesday morning, according to a Mohnyin Prison official.
“He arrived at the prison on Monday evening. He confessed to his crime at the court, and we therefore kept him separately. We found out about his death at around 3:45 a.m.,” prison official U Aung Than Oo told The Irrawaddy.
Khin Maung Htay, 37, used his vest and longyi to hang himself. He told the court that he raped and murdered the girl after finding her foraging for firewood in the woods near her village on Feb. 25. Police have opened a case into his death.
Police have also arrested another suspect in the girl’s rape and murder identified as Maung Yi, who arrived at Mohnyin Prison on Tuesday.
The Home Affairs Ministry recorded 897 rape cases involving children under the age of 16 nationwide in 2017, up from 671 cases the year before. In Kachin State there were 14 cases of child rape in 2016 and 21 cases last year.
The ministry also recorded 1,405 rape cases involving women over 16 in 2017 across the country.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
