RELATIVES of a mentally disabled 24 year-old woman who they claimed was raped and sodomised by a teenage neighbour last Thursday, say that the police are failing to vigorously investigate the incident because of the political and police connections of the alleged rapist.

The offender, they claim, is the son of a Kingston doctor and the cousin of a senior police officer, who prevented other cops from arresting the juvenile after a complaint was filed.

“(The doctor) told the police that his son was 16 and that the woman was 24 and so if any charges should be laid, they were to be laid against her for statutory rape,” one family member of the woman who was allegedly raped told the Observer.

This relative, who declined to be identified, argued that the police have collected sufficient evidence to file charges and even arrest the accused young man.

“They took her bloody clothes and the semen was left inside her,” a source close to the family said. “She gave a statement to the people at the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offenses and Child Abuse (CISOCA).”

The victim and accused are neighbours in an upper St Andrew community, and according to the young woman’s relative, she was enticed by the youngster to his home where he forcibly had sex with her.

“It doesn’t make sense to me. If it was an ordinary person they would kick down their door and drag them off to jail based on the evidence,” one family member said. “They seem to be protecting him.”

Head of the St Andrew North Police Division Superintendent Assan Thompson was yesterday unable to confirm if anyone had been taken into custody in connection with the incident.

“If you want to get a good handle on it you must contact Detective Inspector Campbell,” Thompson said. However repeated efforts to contact Campbell were unsuccessful.

The alleged victim was released from hospital on Friday after spending Thursday night in the emergency room. Her relatives are very concerned about her welfare and say she has been administered with anti-retroviral drugs to combat the AIDS virus as well as treatment to prevent pregnancy.