Suspects in horror attack re-arrested after protests
Source: Agencies |
March 24, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE 18-year-old woman, prosecutors say, was gang-raped by three men, who tried to cover up their crime by strangling her with a cord, wrapping her naked body in a blanket and dumping her at an abandoned construction site - where they set her on fire.
Amazingly, Oksana Makar survived.
But her quest for justice seemed doomed after police released two of the three suspects whose parents had political connections in a provincial Ukrainian region.
After a national protest campaign, police re-arrested the two released suspects and charged all three with rape. The one who remained in custody was also charged with attempted murder.
Makar remains in a serious condition in hospital with burns over more than half of her body and severe damage to her lungs. Her right arm was amputated to stop the spread of gangrene.
Her mother said she used to be a cheerful young woman with many friends in Mykolaiv, a shipbuilding city of about a half million residents some 500 kilometers south of the capital, Kiev. She liked dancing in clubs, boxing and bungee jumping.
That life ended on March 9 when Makar met two young men at a bar who invited her to a friend's apartment.
One suspect, identified as Yevhen K, told investigators he and two friends had sex with Makar repeatedly, including at least one time that he admitted was rape.
After Makar threatened to call police, the suspect said he first tried to strangle her with his bare hands and then finish her off with a piece of white cable he found in the apartment. She lost consciousness.
The suspect said he and his friends wrapped Makar's naked body in a blanket and dumped it into a pit at a deserted construction site.
He said he then dropped a pillow case into the pit and set it on fire.
Afterward, he said, they went home to change their clothes. They bought vodka and went to a food stand, where one suspect ordered tea and the other a beer.
"We sat down, had a smoke and then went our own ways," said the man accused of attempted murder as well as rape.
Makar was saved when a passing car happened to stall right next to the construction site.
Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko has confirmed that the parents of two of the suspects are former government officials in the Mykolaiv region.
Makar's mother, Tetyana Surovitska, accused police of freeing them because of their parents' connections.
Of her daughter, she said: "She loved life so much, but they destroyed her body, her soul and her spirit. They destroyed my child."
Amazingly, Oksana Makar survived.
But her quest for justice seemed doomed after police released two of the three suspects whose parents had political connections in a provincial Ukrainian region.
After a national protest campaign, police re-arrested the two released suspects and charged all three with rape. The one who remained in custody was also charged with attempted murder.
Makar remains in a serious condition in hospital with burns over more than half of her body and severe damage to her lungs. Her right arm was amputated to stop the spread of gangrene.
Her mother said she used to be a cheerful young woman with many friends in Mykolaiv, a shipbuilding city of about a half million residents some 500 kilometers south of the capital, Kiev. She liked dancing in clubs, boxing and bungee jumping.
That life ended on March 9 when Makar met two young men at a bar who invited her to a friend's apartment.
One suspect, identified as Yevhen K, told investigators he and two friends had sex with Makar repeatedly, including at least one time that he admitted was rape.
After Makar threatened to call police, the suspect said he first tried to strangle her with his bare hands and then finish her off with a piece of white cable he found in the apartment. She lost consciousness.
The suspect said he and his friends wrapped Makar's naked body in a blanket and dumped it into a pit at a deserted construction site.
He said he then dropped a pillow case into the pit and set it on fire.
Afterward, he said, they went home to change their clothes. They bought vodka and went to a food stand, where one suspect ordered tea and the other a beer.
"We sat down, had a smoke and then went our own ways," said the man accused of attempted murder as well as rape.
Makar was saved when a passing car happened to stall right next to the construction site.
Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko has confirmed that the parents of two of the suspects are former government officials in the Mykolaiv region.
Makar's mother, Tetyana Surovitska, accused police of freeing them because of their parents' connections.
Of her daughter, she said: "She loved life so much, but they destroyed her body, her soul and her spirit. They destroyed my child."
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