A 13-YEAR OLD girl was gang-raped and stabbed at least 60 times by her alleged fellow rugby addicts in a secluded and grassy area in Barangay Looc, Lapu-Lapu City Wednesday evening.

The murder was discovered 20 hours after when one of the six culprits—five of them minors—surrendered to a barangay tanod and owned up the crime.

Panagbenga 2009 blog

But during the police investigation, Tata (not his real name), 15, and a third grade student of a public school, admitted he had five other companions, including Victorio Yamis, 19, in sexually molesting and killing Charisa Ann Sarusa.

Homicide chief investigator Rosilito Jumao-as said all the suspects admitted being rugby users and that they were angry at Sarusa for divulging details of their secret meetings to their rival group.

He said the suspects called Sarusa “traydor” (traitor) during the investigation.

Yamis is detained at the police station, while Tata and four others, one is 13, two are 14 and another one is 17, were turned over to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) before the 24-hour period lapsed.

The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 prohibits the detention of minors, so they needed to be turned over the DSWD.

The killing raised concerns on the law, which was authored by Sen. Francisco Pangilinan.

“Mao ni nakadaot aning balaura (This is the flaw of this law). This is a very complex crime because the victim was a minor and she was raped and murdered but we can’t detain the five suspects,” Jumao-as said.

The death of Sarusa also raised questions on the City’s curfew ordinance, which the City Council approved last March 4.

The ordinance prohibits minors from staying outdoors from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. except in an emergency situation and if they are with their parents or guardians.

School assignments that require a minor to visit an Internet café is also another exception, provided the student has a written instruction from a school official.

“This case is really bad. The ordinance is already implementable and I think we need an executive and legislative dialogue on this case on how to deal with minor offenders and in preventing them from committing a crime,” Vice Mayor Mario Amores said yesterday.

Sixty percent of street crimes in the city last year involved minors, a situation that bothered City officials and prompted the City Council to approve the curfew ordinance after eight months of deliberations.

Impossible

But Amores said the police and the barangay tanods cannot patrol the whole City, a problem that acting City Police Director Mariano Natuel admitted in a separate interview.

He said patrolling the entire City for 24 hours is impossible.

However, he said he had the killing of Sarusa evaluated by their legal office because he can not just allow the suspects to enjoy freedom after committing a heinous crime.

Guilt prompted Tata to surrender to barangay tanod Lewy Dequilme at past 5 p.m. yesterday.

He led barangay officials and tanods to the place where they left Sarusa’s body.

During the investigation, Tata admitted he had five other companions.

Police formed a team, led by the homicide section, and went to escort the suspects from their residences.

Tata alleged that they were strolling in Sitio Gumamela at past 9 p.m. before agreeing to sniff rugby in the grassy area less than 100 meters from residences.

But when they reached the place, he said five of them forced Sarusa to lie down and they took turns in raping her.

Only their 17-year-old companion did not take part in the sexual attack but was allegedly the first one who stabbed Sarusa in the chest. Two of the four suspects are 14 years old and are high school drop outs.

“Ayaw uy, ayaw uy (Please don’t do it),” Tata recalled Sarusa as saying when they started stabbing her.

He identified Yamis, as the oldest of the group, while the youngest is a 13-year-old grade five student.

Tata said his companions held Sarusa on both hands and feet as he and Yamis took turns in stabbing her to death. (AIV)