A girl and her mother go to the HCMC police station to report a case of pedophilia. Photo courtesy of lawyer Do Ngoc Thanh
A New Zealand man from HCMC has been accused of assaulting a 9-year-old girl, his friend’s daughter.
Tan Binh district police on Thursday summoned the New Zealand man, who lives in Binh Thanh district, to investigate him for allegedly assaulting a girl who returned to Vietnam from the United Kingdom with her family for Tet celebrations.
The girl’s family reported that on February 11, their New Zealand friend came to their house to hang out, then went to the house of an acquaintance named Mai in Tan Binh district with the girl and her father. While the adults talked in the living room, the girl went to Mai’s room upstairs.
Mai then came into the room with the girl. The New Zealander then followed them and spoke with the girl in English. Mai thought the man was a close friend of the girl’s father, so she left the girl alone with the man when she went to the kitchen for about five minutes.
When Mai returned to the room, she saw the man and the girl lying on the bed. The man took the girl’s hand and put it in his pants. Mai then immediately separated the two and informed the girl’s parents of what had happened.
The girl then told her mother that the New Zealand man had committed similar acts to her several times in the past. When the father questioned the man about what happened, the man allegedly texted and admitted his behavior, adding that it was “nothing serious.”
The girl’s family then sought the help of a lawyer to report the matter to the police.
