Medicolegal Examination of Sexual Assault Cases. A Retrospective Study.

Abstract

Background: Sexual assault is any sexual action submitted against someone without their assent or against people who cannot give a legitimate assent. Sexual assaults can happen to anybody at whatever age, at any place, whenever. Aim of the work: to assess sexual assaults within Fayoum governorate, Egypt, and know the elements of this significant public health concern. Methods: This is a retrospective study of sexual assault cases examined by the forensic medicine authority, Fayoum governorate, Egypt, from January 2013 to December 2017. Sociodemographic data of the victim and assailants and information about the assault were recorded. Results: The study recorded 164 cases. The victim's age was commonly presented in the second decade of life as 45%. Females were higher than males. The perpetrator's age was widely shown in the third decade of life as 44%. A known person to the victim, either friend or neighbour, was the widely presented form of the relation of the perpetrator to the victim (53.7%). Anal sexual assaults or sodomy was the dominant form of assault (53.7%), followed by vaginal assaults or rape (41.5%). The time of examination of the victim after the assault was commonly one week (58.5%). At the same time, 41.5% of victims were examined for more than one week. The local genital examination findings were positive in (51.2%) of the victims. A highly significant difference was found between the victims' age and victims' gender, type of sexual assault, perpetrator age, and type of penetration. Conclusion: Most assaulted males were in their first decade of life, while most assaulted females were in the second and third decades. The results conclude that our sons and daughters could not be secure even among their most treasured ones.