THE 14-year-old girl, who accused an American national of rape last year, has recanted, clearing Perry McNeely of any wrongdoing.
The complainant also turned the tables on the arresting officers and an international women’s group after she accused police of pushing her into the hotel room and the International Justice Mission (IJM) of forcing her to sign the complaint-affidavit.
“It is not true that (Perry) McNeely raped me on Dec. 1 and 2, 2009 at the Metro Park Hotel in (Barangay) Lahug, City of Cebu,” the girl said in her two-page affidavit of desistance.
The complainant has asked Regional Trial Court Branch 6 Judge Ester Veloso to dismiss the case against McNeely.
Judge Veloso will decide on the motion to dismiss the case today.
McNeely was sued for violating provisions of Republic Act 9165 for allegedly bringing the girl inside a hotel room last Dec. 2.
Dismissed
The Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office, however, dismissed the child trafficking complaint against McNeely.
In his resolution, City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon said McNeely, who was released on a P200,000-bail, merely “bought the services” of the 14-year-old girl, who “went back to the hotel alone on her own volition.”
Last March 15, McNeely pleaded not guilty to the charge that he sexually abused the complainant.
Last month, Judge Veloso granted the prosecution’s motion for issuance of a hold-departure order against the American national.
In her affidavit of desistance, the complainant said McNeely neither raped nor hired her to engage in prostitution.
“(It) is not true that (Perry) McNeely maintained or hired me to engage in prostitution and/or pornography because I was
never with (Perry) McNeely on the above stated dates (at Metro Park Hotel) and I have never met (Perry McNeely) ever since,” the complaint said.
The complainant also said it was untrue she was alone with McNeely and two of the suspect’s companions –Michael Lopez and Andre Breeding—last Dec. 2.
She said when she arrived at the hotel around 4 p.m. the policemen grabbed her and pushed her into the room “together with (Perry) McNeely and his companions.”
The complainant said personnel from the Department of Social Welfare and Development Office (DSWD) 7 and the IJM prepared her complaint-affidavit.
She said they threatened to place her inside the DSWD jail until she was 18 if she didn’t sign.
She said she went to hotel to look for McNeely and ask for his help because she thought she was pregnant with a Filipino boyfriend.
“I heard that (Perry) McNeely has a good heart,” she said in her affidavit of desistance, adding she got the information from a friend, who is also a friend of McNeely’s.