Keibril Amira García Amador, a 9-month-old baby, was snatched from her mother’s arms on Sunday afternoon in Cartago.
The baby is the daughter of a 13-year-old teenager who was reportedly pregnant when she was between 11 and 12 years old. Therefore, a possible rape offense is also being investigated.
“I was not with my daughter then because my daughter was selling tickets for a raffle that I was going to hold. At about 11:21, she called me, and I asked her if she was going to the house. She told me she was not. Then they called me to say that the baby had been stolen,” said Fabiola Amador, the baby’s grandmother.
Since the child’s abduction last Sunday, the Judicial Investigation Organism (OIJ) and the police have been searching farms and fields in the province of Cartago (center).
The OIJ arrested on Monday a suspect named Cassasola, 34 years old, who is the stepfather of the 13-year-old. This Tuesday, a court ordered that the man should remain under custody.
Cassasola is also being investigated for the rape of the teenage girl, and a DNA test is pending to determine if he is the father of the kidnapped baby.
“He has an appointment tomorrow (Wednesday) to take a paternity test. We think he abducted the baby to avoid it. The test will always be performed regardless of whether we have the baby”, said the director of the OIJ, Randall Zúñiga.
The OIJ director indicated that the teenager is a victim of rape and gender violence.
“The whole country is shocked by the disappearance of the 9-month-old girl, the daughter of a 13-year-old teenager, who is also a child. Two victims, one of kidnapping and the other of rape,” said the Minister of Youth and Adolescence, Gloriana Lopez.
Johanna Obando, Congresswoman, mentioned that “the story is truly aberrant; a minor is selling raffle tickets to bring food to her 9-month-old daughter.”
“A 12-year-old girl was ‘raped,’ that is the correct term, and we do not know from what age she was ‘systematically raped,’ I will put it in quotation marks because it is not a fact that has been proven. We must not minimize the disgusting and despicable acts,” she added.
The case has shocked the entire country. Meanwhile, authorities are still relentlessly searching for the baby.
