An eight-year-old girl was killed in a heinous crime, causing shock and stirring a storm of anger in Egypt through social media.

Rimas was kidnapped on her return from a nearby bakery to buy bread for her family.  The killer lured her to his home. The accused tried to rape the child, but she fiercely resisted him. Finally, he killed her with a knife for fear of being exposed. The security services managed to get the little girl’s body from the hands of the families who nearly killed him.

The parents started looking for the girl after she was absent from the house. They finally arrived, during their search, at the killer’s house and found the body of Rimas in his home. Some of the angry people tried to avenge the innocent child, who was stabbed with a knife several times to death.

After examination and autopsy of the body (at the Public Prosecution’s request), initial reports stated that the perpetrator had attempted to assault her sexually. The police suggested that the child had resisted the attack and shouted for help, and the man was afraid and killed her, directing three stab wounds at her body. Through social networking sites, Twitter users demanded justice for the child.

The participants expressed their anger at the horrific crime and warned against leniency with the perpetrator or describing him as insane to justify his heinous crime, and demanded the harshest penalties be imposed on the murderer.

Egyptians complain widely about the lack of security on the streets in light of a state of insecurity, leading to a significant increase in crime rates recently. Many warnings have been shared, especially about kidnapping children. However, the security bodies did nothing to stop this phenomenon.

From time to time, the Egyptian governorates witness shocking crimes related to harassment, rape, and kidnapping of young girls. On the other hand, the security services are preoccupied with pursuing political opponents of the ruling regime. During the past month, the harassment of a girl who works as a street vendor in the Maadi neighbourhood of Cairo caused a sensation after surveillance cameras at the entrance to an apartment building recorded an incident of a citizen molesting the child.

Cairo is classified among the most dangerous cities in the world for women, as incidents of harassment and rape are frequent, especially on holidays and events, in light of the absence of security and the inability of laws to deter the perpetrators.