Rape, trafficking filed vs foreigner

POLICE authorities here filed complaints before the City Prosecutor’s Office (CPO) against a 50-year-old New Zealand national accused of raping two teenage girls and human trafficking.

Charges of rape, anti-child abuse, and violation of Republic Act 9208, otherwise known as Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, were filed against the foreigner based on the complaints of the victims, who are both from Kidapawan City.

Reporters are prohibited from mentioning in their reports the names of both the accused and the victims, pursuant to the confidentiality provision of the RA 9208.

A source, who refused to be named for lack of authority to speak, said the accused was brought for inquest proceeding before Prosecutor Minerva Pepito-Estremos on Saturday.

He said he expects to resolve the case against the foreigner since the latter committed a clear violation of the anti-trafficking law.

What was alarming on the part of the victims, the source said, was that the two teenage girls, aged 12 and 13, were infected with a sexually transmitted disease. The accused allegedly raped the victims.

He said the two girls are now under the custody of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Davao, a pyscho-social unit of the Regional Inter-agency against Trafficking-Integrated Action Network (Riaction).

Kidapawan City police headed by Superintendent Renante Cabico, chief of police, and social welfare workers, in coordination with the Women and Children Desk of Davao City police arrested the suspect inside a hotel in the city, where he was about to check out for his travel back to South Africa.

Cabico earlier said they used the victims as guides in locating the suspect.

The victims told the police that two ladies identified only in their aliases as “Sarah” and “Aiza” who recruited them from Kidapawan City public market brought them to Davao City on Monday.

The girls were promised an amount of P1,500 each, according to them.
But when they arrived at the hotel and introduced them to the foreigner they were told to undress and take a bath.

Of the two girls from Kidapawan City, only the 14-year-old victim was told to stay but both of them were raped, they said.

Along with the two girls were eight other teenagers who came from different areas in Mindanao, Cabico said.

Cabico said the foreigner is on the watch list. (ANC)