GODIE Flor Rama, the suspect in the kidnapping of an eight-year-old Filipino-Korean girl in Mandaue City, said he had no plans to either harm or sexually abuse her.
Rama’s motivation for snatching the girl and placing her inside a suitcase was to retaliate against the child’s grandfather for accusing him of theft.
He said he just wanted to let the girl’s relatives experience the pain he had felt due to their accusations.
“Ibalik ra man nako ang bata after six hours. Gipakaon ra nako siya, gipadula ug games (I intended to bring the child back in six hours. I fed her and let her play games),” Rama said in an interview with reporters at the Subangdaku Police Station on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023.
Rama, 32, was arrested hours after allegedly holding the girl captive on Thursday, Aug. 10.
Security camera footage captured Rama dragging the suitcase outside an apartment complex in Barangay Bakilid where the girl’s family is residing.
Police found Rama and the girl inside a different apartment unit 500 meters from the girl’s residence. The suspect is the caretaker of the apartment complex owned by his sister.
In an interview with reporters Friday, Rama said the girl’s grandfather and some tenants in the apartment complex had accused him of stealing things from them such as trash cans, clothes hangers and brooms. He said he was hurt by their accusations, saying they were not true.
He said he put the child inside the suitcase because he knew the victim’s mother would not allow the child to go out with him.
Rama said he originally brought the suitcase because he had planned to leave the apartment complex after a fight with his sister.
Mandaue City Police Office Director Jeffrey Caballes said the victim went out to buy drinks in a nearby sari-sari store owned by her aunt. As the girl walked towards her family’s apartment, the suspect grabbed her and forced her into one of the empty rooms. Then he placed her in a suitcase before going outside.
Caballes said the girl’s parents never suspected anything bad would happen to her, as the girl often visited her aunt and returned home safely.
The police official further said the girl’s grandfather was shocked by the incident. The grandfather had had a conversation with the suspect hours before the incident, and their talk had not ended in a fight.
Caballes said the victim will undergo medical and psychological tests, while the suspect will undergo a drug test and a background check to determine if he has pending criminal cases.
Rama will be facing a kidnapping complaint before the prosecutor’s office. Additional charges will be filed against him depending on the girl’s laboratory results.