JOHOR BARU: An Indonesian woman, believed to be a victim of sex trafficking, has been found abandoned here – thousands of kilometres from her home in east Jakarta.
The 35-year-old woman, who gave her name as Risa, has been missing for more than a year back home and was found abandoned, without any travel documents, outside a convenience store in Taman Mount Austin here.
To make matters worse, she is believed to have been raped, and is also pregnant.
The case came to light when a concerned person called and told church pastor Benedict Rajan about a mentally-challenged woman who was living along a road in the area for some time.
Rajan said he and several people from the church went to the area after hearing about her.
“She was lying on the floor next to a pile of rubbish when we met her. She had a bag filled with dirty clothes with her but there was no identification documents.
“She told us she was four months pregnant and that she was raped by an unknown man,” he said.
Rajan said they took her to one of their homes and cleaned her up.
“We wanted to bring her to the hospital for a check-up but without any documentation at the time, we were unable to do so,” he said, adding that they also lodged a police report.
Risa has been living at the home for about a week before she was taken to the Indonesian Consulate General’s office here.
Prayogo, the consulate official assigned to the case, managed to track down the woman’s sister and contacted her in Jakarta.
“Her sister told us that she has been missing for more than a year and the family has been looking for her since.
“She said that they did not know how she ended up in Johor as she was last seen at her family house in east Jakarta,” he said, adding that they believed she was a victim of sex trafficking.
He said the Consulate General office was now working on getting her documents, including immigration papers and would assist in sending her back to her family.
When contacted, her 42-year-old sister said the victim had schizophrenia since she was a teenager.
“I was shocked when I received the call as I didn’t expect her to end up in Malaysia.
“I last saw her in January last year when she said she wanted to go out to the warung nearby for a while but she never came back,” she said, adding she was thankful to the church and the Indonesian representative for their assistance.
She added that she hoped her sister could return home as soon as possible as they all missed her.
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