A shepherd from Criuleni was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually exploiting a 14-year-old girl. The 47-year-old man took advantage of the situation of the girl who ran away from home without money and a phone, IPN reports.

The Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases said that the crime took place in August 2020, when the man sheltered the teenager. Shortly afterward, he asked her to help him with work, to cook, but sexually harassed her. A month later, the man claimed that his mother died and they both left for another locality. The man consumed alcoholic beverages with friends and showed the teenager the house where he claimed he had grown up. There he had sex with her against her will.

The teenager managed to escape when the man’s son gave her the phone to call a relative of her and that person came after her. Later, the man lured her to come to a transport station and get into the car with him. Returning to the sheepfold, to prevent her repeated escape, the man cut her hair with scissors and a razor. Another episode of sexual exploitation followed right on the victim’s birthday. The next day, the girl sought help from the owner of the sheepfold, who came and took her by his car to Chisinau, where she found refuge at the place of an acquaintance of her. She later went home and denounced the man to the police.

At the request of prosecutors, the shepherd was remanded in custody. The teenager was offered psychological counseling as a child at risk.

Previously, the man had served four other sentences.