A pedophile who had been grooming an 11-year-old girl on WhatsApp, trying to lure her to his house for sex, has been caught and beaten to a bloody pulp by her father after he pretended to be his daughter online and tricked the predator into meeting him in a public location.
The 29-year-old, identified as Germán Acosta, had been sending the 11-year-old sexually explicit messages on WhatsApp and encouraging her to lie to her parents so she could meet him at his Buenos Aires home.
But Acosta had not been counting on her father finding out. The child told her dad what was happening and from that moment on he took charge of the situation, exchanging messages with Acosta as if he were his daughter and arranging a “date” to see him, where he planned to dish out some “old fashioned Argentine justice”.
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“Tell them you are going to see a friend,” the pedophile wrote to the young girl, not knowing her dad was now reading the messages. He also asked her to send photos of herself in her underwear. “I’m a virgin,” she told him. “That’s great,” he replied.
“First he wanted to have the date at his house and I told him yes, of course, because I was going to kill him. He would open the door and I would kill him,” the girl’s father, Walter Rodríguez told TV channel TB.
Padre atrapa y golpea al acosador de su hija haciéndose pasar por ella; la menor de 11 años recibía constantes mensajes sexuales https://t.co/3A8Ozw1NDh pic.twitter.com/BOjmeH5INm
— @diario24horas (@diario24horas) February 15, 2018
But Acosta changed the meeting place to a street in the Villa Crespo neighborhood in Buenos Aires. When Rodríguez saw Acosta, he punched him in the face and beat up him up before calling the police. He also took a photo of the accused with a beaten and bloody face and shared the images on social networks as a warning to other pedophiles.
Argentine dad poses as 11-year-old daughter, beats up her sexual harasser – An Argentine man who had been grooming an 11-year-old girl has been located and beaten up by her father, Walter Rodríguez. The 29-year-old, identified as Germán Acosta, had be… https://t.co/nAUEv1yZHD
— The Mail (ES) (@themail_ES) February 15, 2018
“This son of a bitch is a pervert. He sent photos to my 11-year-old daughter,” he wrote on Facebook. He also shared screenshots of the WhatsApp conversation to prove his case against the predator.
El Pais reports: Both the pervert and the father are now facing charges, but neither of them have been detained.
Rodríguez is accused of battery and Acosta of online harassment and grooming – the crime of befriending a child to lure them to perform sexual acts.
“I made my statement before Justice. I told them everything, how it happened, I showed them the screenshots, what he had been sending to my little girl,” Rodríguez explained. “I don’t understand why they let him go. A person like this doesn’t deserve to be free.”
Under local law, a person who contacts a minor online or via phone messages to groom them faces between six months and four years in prison.
“By letting him free there is the potential risk to society because he could continue harassing these children,” warns Hernán Navarro from the not-for-profit group Grooming Argentina.
“Parents think that because their children are by their sides they are safe by their side. But kids are alone on the internet,” he adds. Worse still, online abuse can expose children to greater dangers, such as human trafficking, rape and crime.
