ANGELES CITY -- The Regional Trial Court (RTC) has issued a warrant of arrest against an Australian national who was charged of frustrated rape of a minor.

Dr. Stephen Soul, 58, a retired Australian justice of the peace, was previously charged by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Team-Pampanga (CIDT-Pampanga) for allegedly abusing a 17- and 14-year-old girl with his companion inside his apartment at Josefa Ville, Barangay Malabanias, this city.

What's your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers

Soul, who is currently in Australia, has appealed to the Australian Embassy in the Philippines for assistance regarding his case.

He denounced the case, describing it as "a mere extortion frame-up involving policemen."

"I now seek from you a more positive intervention at a diplomatic level to have the charges against me dropped and the police who are involved in the setting up and operation of these extortion processes prosecuted," said Soul in his letter to Australian Ambassador Rod Smith.

His case stemmed from the charges filed against him by the CIDT-Pampanga for allegedly detaining and sexually abusing a minor female in his apartment at Dona Josefa Subdivision last August 13.

Senior Police Officer (SPO) 4 Cesar Cuiza of the CIDT-Pampanga said in his report that Soul's companion in the apartment, an unidentified Australian, was able to elude arrest by jumping to the fire exit.

Superintendent Florendo Suligao, head of the CIDT-Pampanga when Soul was arrested and charged, said the parents of the victims sought his office's help in rescuing the girls who were detained inside the Australian's apartment.

CIDT-Pampanga operatives claimed in their reports that the victims, aged 14 and 17, were able to notify their parents on their whereabouts through their cellular phone.

In their sworn affidavit, the victims said they were walking along the subdivision around 2:30 p.m. last August 13 when the two foreigners offered them snack.

"We thought we were just going to eat in front of the apartment but they pulled us in all of a sudden," the victims said.

Inside, they were given soft drinks and sandwich. "After eating, they made us bathe then they forcefully brought us to a room and while inside, they kissed our private parts," they said.

In the separate sworn affidavit of the victim's parents, they said their minor daughter did not come home since the morning of August 11 for still unclear reason.

The CIDT-Pampanga operatives, accompanied by the victims' parents, said they were able to gain entry into the apartment because the doorknob was not locked. Inside, they had found Soul and his companions half naked and the female minors naked.

But Soul said he was set up, saying he never touched his ex-girlfriend or the two minors.

Soul said when he was jailed at a local police station, a certain "Ranger" asked him to shell out P500,000 to settle the case with the family.

He said he later agreed to pay P300,000 and arranged with a friend to secretly take video footages of the pay off. But the plan, according to him, was "monitored" and did not materialize.

The deal was called off and he was finally charged in court. He later posted a bail of P100,000 and left for Australia.

He alleged that he later discovered about the involvement of ranking police officers in his frame up.

In his letter, Soul said: "I believe that your consular officers, and pretty much every other person of note in Angeles, have been aware of the existence and operations of these syndicates and the effect from time to time on Australian expats and tourists."

Soul lamented the RTC's issuance of a warrant of arrest against him.

"I cannot go back to the Philippines so the warrant does not really worry me and I suspect that the police within this syndicate will have a hard time finding me and killing me in Australia, but it is important that others are not subjected to this sort of extortion and you and I and Mrs. Gacus have an ideal opportunity to put this matter to rest," he stated in his letter.

For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod.

(November 19, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.