THREE years ago, Lydia entrusted her seven-year-old daughter to her teenage cousin Ellroy, telling him to take care of his niece while she was away for a few days.
A night then came when Ellroy used illegal drugs and consumed bottles of an alcoholic drink. After he opened the door of his cousin’s house in the mountain village of Lusaran in Cebu City, he forgot his task, which was to protect his niece Pam.
Ellroy, who admitted being hooked on drugs since he was nine, became a predator—he raped Pam.
He left Lusaran and went into hiding in the mountain barangays of Balamban, Cebu, police said.
Past 8 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020, the police officers of the Cebu City Mobile Force Company (CMFC) caught Ellroy, now 19 and a farmer. The real names of the persons in this case have been replaced to protect the victim and her family’s privacy, and because the law on rape has a confidentiality provision.
Ellroy admitted to reporters that he had raped his niece.
“Makausa ra pud hinuon (I did it only once though),” he said.
P/Lt. Col. Randy Korret, head of the CMFC, said the accused had been tagged as the fifth most wanted person in Cebu City before his arrest.
Ellroy, after hiding in Balamban, went back home toLusaran. He rarely got out of his parents’ house, afraid he would be seen.
However, neighbors who knew he had a pending criminal case in court caught a glimpse of him. They reported him to the authorities.
After receiving information on Ellroy, Korret deployed his team and served the warrant of arrest against the accused, who did not resist the CMFC personnel.
Ellroy, during the interview with reporters, apologized to Pam’s parents, but he still offered an excuse.
“Unsaon man nga nabuhat nako nga mao na kay hubog man (I was able to do it because I was really drunk),” he said. (AYB & GPL / KAL)