> Drunk 18yo youth rapes 3yo toddler

MIRI: A three-year-old girl was brutally raped by a youth at a rural longhouse settlement following a long Gawai drinking spree.

The girl, who suffered massive bleeding, was admitted at the Miri Hospital.

Sources said villagers found the toddler groaning in pain and bleeding profusely in a hut near the longhouse in Bekenu, 80km from here, on Monday evening.

When they brought her back, the girl related to her mother that a 16-year-old youth from the longhouse had led her to the hut, taken off her panties and “did something to her”.

“The villagers made a citizen’s arrest after she pointed out the suspect to the residents.

“The suspect, who was loitering near the longhouse in a state of intoxication, did not put up a fight,” said the sources, adding that the teenager had been arrested by police.

Villagers said the suspect, who was working at a farm near the longhouse belonging to the victim’s grandfather, had been drinking heavily during the harvest festival.

“I can only confirm we have arrested a suspect. We cannot reveal too much as it involves a minor,” said Miri police deputy chief Supt Ismail Paduka Idris yesterday.