Police Sanction Parents For Forcing Nine-Year-Old Child into Prostitution

The parents of a nine-year-old girl have been placed under house arrest for forcing their daughter into prostitution, police in the southern Italian region of Sicily said on Monday.

Two men aged 63 and 79, suspected of paying for sex with the girl, were also put under house arrest, the ANSA news agency said, quoting the Carabinieri police of Partinico, a small town near Palermo.

According to ANSA’s report, the girl’s family is severely deprived.

The child, who has been moved to a foster home, told investigators that the family would receive five euros ($6.2) if she kissed one of the two men, or 25 or 30 euros if she did “something more.”

The Carabinieri’s investigations were prompted by a report from a man who witnessed the girl being abused in the open countryside, in the presence of her father. (dpa/NAN)