MAPUSA
The four-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted in an abandoned building in Mapusa on Sunday evening was apparently left searching for her father after the latter lost track of her at the town's bus stand, police sources said.
According to sources, the family, comprising the father, mother and their three children, had arrived in Goa a few days before the incident.
On Sunday, the mother and two of the children travelled to coastal Calangute to sell balloons, while the father brought the youngest daughter to Mapusa, where they too were engaged in selling balloons.
Sources said that after a day's business, the father allegedly consumed alcohol and collapsed at some place near the Mapusa bus stand. In the meantime, the little girl, unable to locate her father, apparently began looking for him and was visibly anxious.
It was allegedly at this vulnerable moment that the accused noticed the child. Sensing that she was alone and distressed, he is suspected to have approached her, offered to help her find her father and gained her confidence.
The accused allegedly then lured the child into a secluded, abandoned building in the heart of Mapusa town, where the sexual assault is alleged to have taken place.
Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, including how the accused managed to gain the child's trust and take her away from the public area.
