Officers of the Internal Security Forces, in front of the detention center at the Beirut courthouse. (Credit: Archive photo by Hassan Ammar/AFP)
BEIRUT — A shocking case of rape and murder of a minor has shaken Haret al-Naameh (the area on the Chouf coast, south of Beirut) this weekend.
The events took place during the night from Friday to Saturday. According to the statement from the Internal Security Forces (ISF), which broke its usual reserve to describe the attacker as a "human monster," the victim was a 10-year-old girl, H.M., born in 2015, of Syrian nationality.
According to the police, the attacker, identified as H.H., born in 1997 and also Syrian, "is the brother of a neighbor of the family."
The ISF said that he "took the little girl and her brother to the beach, on a sand dune facing the Damour coast to the north, where he assaulted the girl and then killed her by hitting her on the head with rocks, before hiding her body under a pile of stones out of sight among the reeds."
The attacker then beat the victim's brother, age 5, who witnessed his sister's murder and started to scream. He dragged the boy to the sea and left him for dead. The little boy survived and was found by local residents, who discovered him soaking wet and injured on his face and head. They alerted the police around 11:35 p.m.
A patrol immediately went to the scene where the child was found and was joined there by the father of the two children, accompanied by the attacker, H.H.
The boy recognized the attacker and pointed him out, telling authorities that he had taken him and his sister to the beach and ordered him to stay near the motorcycle. "The child said he heard his sister scream and saw the man return to him, before he was beaten and thrown into the water," the statement continued.
The suspect was arrested on the spot. The child was interviewed the next day, Saturday, Nov. 1, "in the presence of a representative from the social services." At 5 p.m. that same day, following a thorough search, the girl's body was found and handed over to the medical examiner and the office for child protection for investigation. According to the ISF statement, the suspect confessed to all the facts and was transferred to the judicial police for further investigation.
According to local sources who wished to remain anonymous, there is video footage showing the man on his motorcycle luring the two children out, promising to buy them chocolate in the village.
The same sources said the family returned to Syria for the girl's burial and decided to stay there after the tragedy.
This particularly heinous murder has sparked many outraged reactions on social media, condemning violence against children.
