"My daughter's voice is still echoing in my ears," the father of the three-year-old girl recounted the details of his daughter's death after she was thrown into a swimming pool in the "Wahid Huzeran" area of Kirkuk. The tragic story revolves around two minors sexually assaulting and then killing the three-year-old girl.
Last Wednesday, July 8th, two boys, one aged 10 and the other 11, lured their neighbor, a young girl, to one of their homes and then took her to a swimming pool in the neighborhood. After raping her, and when the girl began to cry and scream, they pushed her into the pool, where she drowned.
The story has sparked outrage on social media, especially after security forces announced the arrest of the two suspects, who confessed to their crime.
How the incident unfolded
Saif Sabbar Gharbi, the girl's father who works as a delivery driver, says he went to work as usual, but at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, his wife asked him to return home, "because our daughter left the house and there's no sign of her."
Saif, who came to Kirkuk with his family from the Qaim district of Anbar province during ISIS's control, said, "I rushed home and searched extensively with my neighbors, but I couldn't find any trace of her."
"We then made an announcement through the loudspeaker of the neighborhood mosque, but to no avail." Around 3:30 PM, they informed us that her body had been found inside the swimming pool of the Wahid Huzeran Youth Center.
The pool is located two alleys from the girl's family home, and according to the investigation, it appears the two boys and the girl entered under the youth center's fence, which is made of wire mesh.
The boys' homes are located opposite the girl's home. When the girl's family arrived at the center, the police were present, and her body was transferred to the Kirkuk Forensic Medicine Department. The autopsy took two days, after which the girl's body was released to her family and buried on Friday. The forensic report submitted to the court stated that the girl had been sexually assaulted.
The Arrest of the Two Minors
Even before the release of the body, security forces in Kirkuk, including the intelligence and counter-terrorism services, began their investigation. Terrorism and crime prevention units investigated the case and raised suspicions.
"In this context, and after reviewing surveillance camera footage from the neighborhood, the two minors were arrested," a security source anonymously stated. The source confirmed that they confessed to their crime, noting that the operation was conducted under the supervision of the Kirkuk Police Command.
In their confessions, the boys stated that they took the girl to one of their homes, but his mother asked them to take her back. Instead, the boys took the girl to the youth center.
"At the youth center, the girl began to cry and scream, so they panicked and pushed her into the swimming pool," the source added. "The pool water was shallow, but the girl's head hit the pool floor, causing severe bleeding."
The two minors appeared in court on Sunday, July 12, to give their confessions, but the trial was postponed because they did not have legal representation.
According to an intelligence source, security investigations revealed that one of the boys' fathers is imprisoned on terrorism-related charges, while the other boy's father was killed in clashes between ISIS militants and Iraqi security forces.
A lawyer familiar with the case at the Kirkuk court said, "The judge is handling the case under Article 405 of the Iraqi Penal Code... and the two minors have been sent to a juvenile detention center."
The murdered girl was the only child of the family. "My daughter's voice rings in my ears. The image of her playing is constantly before my eyes. I look at her room and the dolls she used to play with. I want the court to punish the perpetrators," her father said.
Arshad al-Salihi, a member of the Iraqi parliament representing Kirkuk, visited the two boys at the juvenile detention center on Monday, July 13, and expressed his concern about the dozens of other minors there, saying, "They are all accused of heinous crimes. The future of Kirkuk's children is at risk."
