A French mother’s decision to preserve her daughter’s clothes for a year led to the conviction of three men for a brutal gang rape, highlighting low reporting rates for sexual assault.

CRÉTEIL: A French court has jailed three young men for the gang rape of an 18-year-old woman in 2020.

The conviction came after the victim’s mother preserved crucial evidence in a plastic bag for a year until her daughter was ready to file a complaint.

The mother’s actions were pivotal in securing the convictions late Wednesday.

In France, only a fraction of women report sexual assaults to police, with most cases never reaching court.

The victim, identified as Milly by French daily Le Monde, was visiting the Paris region in March 2020 when she was abandoned by friends.

She told investigators eight men, most wearing balaclavas, attacked her in a room in Champigny-sur-Marne.

Milly stated the men hit her and several raped her while others laughed, before a blow to her neck knocked her unconscious.

After the attack, she told her mother but was not ready to speak to police.

Her mother, Sandra, then preserved potential DNA evidence.

“I took Milly’s clothes, which were covered in stains, put them in a plastic bag, and hid them in the hallway cupboard,” she told Le Monde.

Sandra also photographed her daughter’s injuries and obtained a medical report the next day.

When Milly filed a complaint in April 2021, investigators found genetic traces from four people on the stored clothing.

After a closed-door hearing, a juvenile court in Créteil sentenced two men, who were 15 at the time of the crime, to 10 years in jail.

Another defendant received a six-year sentence for complicity.

Three other suspects will be tried at a later date.

The case underscores systemic challenges in prosecuting sexual violence in France.

Only 7% of women in France file a legal complaint after a sexual assault, attempted rape, or rape, according to a government survey.

A November government report found six in 10 reported cases are deemed too weak for court.

That figure rises to seven in 10 cases when the victim is a minor.

The conviction in this case relied heavily on the physical evidence meticulously preserved by the victim’s mother.Indonesia tests toll roads as emergency airforce runways

Indonesia’s air force tests toll roads as emergency runways to bolster archipelago defences, with plans for one in each province.

Indonesia, airforce, toll roads, defence, runways

JAKARTA: The Indonesian air force is trialling the use of toll roads as back-up runways for its aircraft to help bolster the vast archipelago’s defences.

A demonstration of two military planes taking off and landing on a toll road was held on the western island of Sumatra.

Deputy defence minister Donny Ermawan Taufanto said the roads would provide an alternative in the event military bases are attacked.

He described the test as a “good milestone”, adding that a plan for building roads that double-up as runways was already in place.

Air force chief of staff Mohamad Tonny Harjono said at least one toll road in each of the country’s 38 provinces is hoped to serve as a makeshift runway.

“I want to emphasise that the use of toll roads as an alternate runway for fighter jets is temporary and situational,” he said.

“This means it will not be used continuously. We will use it only when necessary.”

He did not specify a timeline for implementing the strategy, which has also been tested in other parts of the world.

Under President Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia is seeking to rejuvenate its ageing military equipment.

The archipelago of more than 17,000 islands received last month its first three French-made Rafale fighter jets as part of an USD 8.1 billion deal to purchase 42 jets from France.

 The Sun Malaysia