QCOSTARICA – Threatened to be returned to the care of the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI) – the child welfare service – a 15 year-old submitted herself to be prostituted by her aunt to a 73 year-old man.
According to the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) in Jacó, Garabito, the woman would make her niece available to the man for only ¢20,000 colones (US$37 dollars).
On Wednesday, OIJ officials arrested the woman, 35 years of age, surnamed Cascante, living in the area of Herradura and the man, with the last name Camacho, in Punta Leona.
The woman, who is the wife of the girl’s uncle, is being charged with pimping (proxenetismo in Spanish) and the man with having sex with a minor.
According to the Fiscalia (Prosecutor’s office) the teenager had problems with her family and the PANI sent her to live with her uncle and his wife.
Apparently, the aunt took advantage of the situation to earn off her niece.
The teenager (the victim) said that while received part of the payment for her sexual services, she lived under constant threat by her aunt to return her to the care of the PANI.
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