Man kidnapped girlfriend and held her captive for 22 years
A 57-year-old man has been arrested for kidnapping his girlfriend and holding her captive for 22 years, chaining her to a bed and beating her.
According to local media, the 42-year-old victim was 19-years-old when she was taken hostage and chained to a bed in her boyfriend’s home in Cura, located in the north-eastern Argentine province of Santa Fe.
She managed to break free when her 57-year-old captor, ‘Oscar R’ rushed to the bathroom leaving the front door unlocked.
The victim, whose identity has been protected by the authorities, grabbed his mobile phone, money and ran outside where she bumped into a relative she had not seen in decades.
The family members chatted at a petrol station and the victim then reported the alleged crime at a nearby police station.
Oscar R was arrested a few days later, according to reports.
Prosecutor Luciana Vallarella told local media that the suspect has been charged with kidnapping and assault and could be sentenced to between two and six years’ jail if found guilty.
Reports did not mention if the victim suffered sexual abuse during her 22 years in captivity, but the formal charges do not currently include a sex offence.
The prosecutor said the woman suffered gender violence since the very start of their relationship and that Oscar R regularly beat and threatened her.
When she was a teenager and her family first learned of the alleged abuse, they tried to intervene.
According to local media, that was when the suspect first decided to keep the woman as his hostage.
He reportedly threatened to hurt the victim’s young son from a previous relationship to make her cooperate.
Oscar R also allowed the victim to call her family occasionally but told her what to say, according to prosecutor Vallarella.
Eventually over time her relatives believed that she no longer wanted to keep in contact with them.
The victim was occasionally allowed to leave the house in the company of Oscar R but was forced to shave her head and dress like a man, local media reported.
Meanwhile, reports said that the suspect’s parents have been linked to the case as possible accomplices, although it is currently unclear whether they have been arrested yet.
Both parents lived on a different floor in the same property so it is suspected that they must have known about the alleged kidnapping.
The suspect is being held in custody for 60 days as the investigation continues.
- Australscope
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