AN American man has been detained by police on suspicion of raping a 16-year-old Chinese girl in Luohu District on Sept. 23.

The man, identified as Robert Dean McDowell, was being investigated by the city’s criminal investigation department, the Nanhu Police Station in Luohu District said Thursday.

According to the investigation, McDowell picked up some girls at a bar in Luohu’s Guomao area on the night of Sept. 23. After several drinks, police said, he took a 16-year-old girl away from the bar and raped her.

Information about the victim was confidential, according to police.

According to Chinese law, raping a girl younger than 14 is statutory rape. But penalties for raping a girl younger than 18 also are more severe than those for raping an adult.

The case was transferred to the criminal investigation department because of McDowell’s status as a foreigner and more details could not be released, police said.

Several expatriates who knew McDowell and refused to be identified said he had lived in cities including Shenzhen and Dongguan for years, and very often hung out at bars and clubs in the Guomao area. His line of work involved trade between Shenzhen and the United States.
 
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[ Last edited by  atomic3d at 20-10-2012 10:42 ]