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Nearly a year after a group of four Liberian boys raped an 8-year-old Liberian girl in a shed in the apartment complex where she lived, a bench warrant has been issued for the parents of the victim after they failed to show up for a court hearing yesterday morning.
Judge Susan Brnovich issued the warrant after Hemie and Wedeh Dio failed to show up to court yesterday for a hearing in their child-abuse cases.
Maricopa County Superior Court spokeswoman Karen Arra tells New Times that the pair failed not only failed to appear, but only one of their lawyers showed up.
Arra also says she waited to release the info on the warrant until court officials had an opportunity to locate the couple and make sure their absence wasn’t because of an emergency or other legitimate excuse. The Dios, however, were never found.
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We called Gerald Gavin, attorney for Hemie Dio who was in court during the couple’s absence, to see if he knew anything about his client’s whereabouts, but he didn’t get back to us.
The Dios, who very publicly blamed their daughter — the victim — for getting raped by the four Liberian boys, then ages 9,10,13, and 14, face seven counts of child abuse for incidents not related to the rape.
According to police, the Dios used sticks, wires, and their fists to hit their daughter as far back as 2005 — when she was only 4 years old.
Witnesses, according to authorities, say the Dios often left their daughter wandering around the apartment complex alone at night, begging for food.
It was while the girl was alone walking through her apartment complex that she was lured into the shed on July 16 of last year and raped — click here to get all the details.
