Outrage in Peru: Taxi driver confesses to kidnapping and raping 3-year-old girl

Peruvians took to the streets across several cities on Thursday to demand life imprisonment, and even the death penalty, for Juan Antonio Enriquez Garcia, a cab driver who confessed to kidnapping and sexually abusing a 3-year-old girl in the city of Chiclayo.

According to police reports, the minor was bound with packing tape for 15 hours before she was found – in a state of shock --  by law enforcement officials in a house in Chiclayo where the 48-year-old taxi driver allegedly abused her.

Enriquez, who is already known throughout the Andean country as the “Monster of Chiclayo,” allegedly lured the girl to his car when her parents were distracted. He then proceeded to take her to a residential building in the El Santuario district of Chiclayo.

After the child disappeared, her parents went to the police and took to social media to ask for the public’s help in finding their daughter. Photos and recordings of the child went viral on social media and neighbors mobilized to help with the search efforts.

"Please help me spread the word, my daughter is missing, I can't find her, please spread the word on TV, help me publish it. My daughter was taken away by a blue car, (...) I beg you", said the mother in tears.

A security camera recorded the moment when Enriquez took the girl before driving away with her in his blue car. Taxi drivers and commuters also joined the search on Wednesday, stopping only after police found and arrested Enriquez.  

"Without remorse, he confessed that he had kidnapped the minor and was keeping her on the second floor of his home," reported Infobae.

The Peruvian Institute of Forensic Medicine later confirmed that the child had been the victim of rape.

"I want the rapist to die, to be killed inside, because he had no mercy with my daughter, he had no mercy, it is a huge damage he has done to her,” the girl’s father said tearfully. His plea has reverberated across Peruvian society and signs calling for the death penalty for Enriquez have popped up around the country.

"Justice for Damaris": Peruvians take to the streets

Thousands of residents of Chiclayo gathered outside the Criminal Investigation Unit (Divincri) to stone the accused, who was guarded by the National Police with a vest and a helmet. Their cries of “Justice for Damaris” and “Girls should not be touched” quickly spread to other cities in Peru and cries demanding Enriquez be sentenced to death have been heard throughout society.

In Lima, protestors gathered in San Martin square and marched to the Peruvian Congress’ building to demand justice for the 3-year-old.

Although the death penalty exists within the Peruvian legal system, article 140 of the Constitution states that it may only be applied for treason in time of war or terrorism.

Residents of Chiclayo protested in front of the home of Judge Maria Vasquez Vasquez who sentenced Enriquez to 9 months in Picsi prison for his crime – a move which infuriated the public who believe a harsher sentence should have been handed down.

The judge’s sister, Aleida Vasquez, decried the attack, claiming that her entire family was affected by the protestors, many of whom threw rocks at the home.

"Demonstrators have come to vandalize my home. My sister is the judge in charge of the sexually depraved man’s case and people have come to destroy my home because she lives on the third floor,” she said tearfully.

Vasquez ordered Enriquez be imprisoned for 9 months at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which accused the cab driver of raping and kidnapping the minor.

"We demand that the full weight of the law be exercised against the aggressor, already captured. The minor and her family require all our support," Peruvian Vice President Dina Boluarte said on Twitter.

La inseguridad y violencia en las calles se tomó una nueva víctima: una niña fue secuestrada y violentada sexualmente en #Chiclayo. Demandamos que se ejerza todo el peso de la ley contra el agresor, ya capturado. La menor y su familia requieren todo nuestro apoyo.

— Dina Boluarte Z. (@DinaErcilia) April 14, 2022

Diana Miloslavic, head of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (MIMP), expressed her "resounding condemnation of the crime against the 3-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted.”

“I demand from our authorities and justice system the most severe sanction against the rapist. We will continue to provide attention to the victim and support to her family,” she added.

The victim recently underwent surgery and is now stable and recovering in a hospital in the Jose Leonardo Ortiz district of Chiclayo, La Republica reported.  

Mi condena rotunda al crimen contra la pequeña de 3 años agredida sexualmente. Exijo a nuestras autoridades y sistema de justicia la más severa sanción contra el violador. Seguiremos brindando atención a la víctima y soporte a su familia. https://t.co/RAbppRJsjP

— DianaMiloslavicTupac (@DianaMiloslavic) April 13, 2022

Feminist collective Mujer Dispara warned that “this terrible event is not an isolated case and will not end overnight. It is necessary and urgent to take constant actions to denounce, prevent and alert child abuse and sexual violence.”

More than 12 thousand cases of sexual violence against children and adolescents were reported in Peru in 2021, according to the MIMP. In March 2022 alone, 296 children and adolescents were reported missing, according to data from the Ombudsman’s office.