SEPARATE complaints for rape and acts of lasciviousness were filed against two of the four senior high school students who allegedly molested a 16-year-old girl inside a vehicle earlier this month.
All four are also facing complaints for violating the Anti-Photo and Anti-Video Voyeurism Act.
One of them is now in the custody of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) after he was turned over by his parents for questioning.
The complaints were filed before the Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) of the CCPO.
On Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, police accompanied the victim to the lodging house where one of the suspects might have brought her and then sexually molested her.
The girl admitted that she was too drunk to notice what her companions were doing to her inside the car. But when she woke up, she found herself inside an air-conditioned room.
“The girl couldn’t recall the exact location because at that time she was still drunk. That was why members of the WCPD went with her to a lodging house where the sexual assault might have occurred,” said Col. Gemma Vinluan, CCPO director, in Tagalog.
Last Saturday, Sept. 21, the mother of one of the suspects surrendered her son to authorities for investigation.
Vinluan said this indicated that the parents were ready to cooperate so their children could face the consequences of their actions.
Police did not arrest the boy, who is a minor, but instead filed the complaint against him. It will be up to the fiscal’s office to decide whether the complaint will be brought to court.
Vinluan was careful not to disclose details about the four suspects and the victim since they are all underage.
But she said the Department of Social Welfare and Development 7 will conduct an assessment to determine if the boys acted with discernment when they committed the crime.
The girl went to the Regional Women and Children Protection Desk 7 last Wednesday, Sept. 18. She was accompanied by her older sister, who narrated to reporters what had transpired inside the private vehicle where the incident happened.
The girl then identified the four boys seen on the video that went viral on social media, saying they were senior high school students in different private universities in Cebu City.
The victim and her lawyer have submitted her sworn statement, Vinluan said.
Police have also identified the first person to upload the video on social media and share it, resulting in the video going viral.
The video shows the girl unconscious while seated on the backseat of a car. She was then molested by one of the four boys, whose faces were shown in the video. (From AYB of SuperrBalita-Cebu / PJB)