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The Fritzl from Veles in custody, the children returned to their motherThe monster denies the crime

27.08.2010

Mimi P. Shushleska
Goran Naumovski

Appalment, condemnation, death penalty requests and institutional accountability wanted are the public reactions after the police went public with the case of a 41-year old man from Veles who has continuously raped his daughters age 3, 5 and 7. Yesterday the Fritzl from Veles has earned himself criminal charges and the children were taken home along with their mother. The forth child in the family has been lucky in this tragic story - since it is still a baby, it has not been part of this atrocious act.  

Although the father claimed that his wife has made the whole story up, medical reports that say the girls have been raped for years which has led to severe psychological trauma, have been a sufficient argument for the police to accuse him of incest but he will also answer for physical violence and abuse toward his 38-year old wife.

This is the first revealed case in the country where a father has raped his daughters with years. Psychiatrists comment that the responsibility should be sought after from the state institutions which are not performing their job well.

The police report says that the suspect has often raped the girls during years and by applying violence, at times when their mother was away. She has complained to the police that the suspect has physically and psychologically molested her and her children ever since the beginning of their married life, but she claims she had no knowledge of the rapes. According to the police, she did not report the case although they live 500 meters away from the police station. The information for the monstrous act came from other people.

Yesterday the children were taken to their home together with the mother. They are placed under competent surveillance of the Center for social work in Veles. The police inquiry of the suspect lasted all night, but he did not admit to the crime. Nevertheless, gynecologists have established defloration of all three girls and signs of sexual intercourse and genital injuries. The most shocking fact is that the seven year old girl has been raped since she was one year old. Unofficial sources say that the father is an alcoholic and both he and his wife are unemployed and live in misery. They have 4 children.

This horrifying news has devastated the entire public and especially the people from Veles. Everyone is appalled by this incest.

“Bring him over and we will judge him, he should be hanged on the city square!” – commented people from Veles yesterday.

The psychiatrist Gjorgji Chadlovski says that such act can be committed only by a person that is mentally ill with severe psychic disorder.

“There is nothing stronger than the parental instinct. A man that is able to rape his children is a severe psychopath, a schizophrenic, mentally disturbed with a degraded personality.” – says Chadlovski.

If he is a psychopath, he is considered capable and aware of his actions and their consequences. On the other hand, if he has schizophrenia, he was not aware what he was doing. Chadlovski thinks that a man could not have done that only under the influence of alcohol.

“However, a chronic alcoholic who has in addition developed a severe mental disorder is capable of such an act.” – says Chadlovski.

He points out that such things would not happen if a solid system for detection of abnormal occurrences had been in place.

“Our institutions are retarded. What are the social workers doing other than sitting in their offices and not going out to see what happens? Where are the children psychologists that are supposed to notice that something is wrong with the abused children?” – ask Chadlovski.

Abused children can show that they have a problem through their behavior, manner of communication, drawings and play, and the teachers and psychologists should notice that and respond. An evaluation of the consequences that the sexual abuse has made should be conducted on the three molested children, and then we should work with them on this issue.

“These children will probably have to be placed in a certain institution. But where can we take them? There is one Center for children’s mental health in Skopje but they cannot stay there. In Veles there is no such institution. We can’t put children in a mental hospital.” – says Chadlovski.

The mother – an accomplice?

“The children’s mother is an accomplice in this case and the parental right should be taken away from her.” – says Professor Sunchica Dimitriovska from the Institute for sociology.

“The mother cannot be amnestied from her responsibility because she must have known about the raping. These children are so little that they couldn’t have been able to hide that.” – says Dimitriovska.

According to her, leaving the children with their mother is an inappropriate decision because she is not capable to take care of them.

“It will be very difficult for these children to overcome the traumas they have been through and they have to receive huge support from the institutions in order to minimize the negative consequences. To start with, they should be taken away from their mother and placed into a foster family.” – says Dimitriovska.

The first children’s embassy in the world Megjashi highlights that the children should not be returned to their family and they ask that they be taken into foster care. Megjashi thinks that the father should receive a maximum sentence and calls on the authorities not to exclude the opportunity that the mother might be an accomplice which if proven, should mean revoking of the parental rights.

43 victims in 6 months

In the first six months of year 2010, 43 children have been victims of sexual aggression, and last year 50 cases have been registered. According to type, the most common criminal act is sexual assault of a minor younger than 14 years. There are 30 such cases. 5 are related to displaying pornographic material to minors, 4 children have been raped and 2 children have been victims of sexual desires satisfaction. According to the police analyses, the largest part of the deeds has been committed in Negotino, then come Skopje, Prilep and Strumica. The lowest number of such cases has been observed in Struga. Victims of such events are 34 girls and 7 boys. The youngest victim until yesterday was 7 years old. The perpetrators of these horrible deeds were mostly male, and there was one female. The youngest of them was 15 years old, and the oldest was 69. They were mostly unemployed and with partial education.

Source: http://www.vreme.com.mk/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=1&EditionID=2107&ArticleID=147414

Translated by: Dijana Janevska
volunteer at First Children’s Embassy in the World Megjashi