A 21-YEAR-OLD painter was charged with rape despite insisting that he and the 18-year-old girl both agreed to the sexual pleasure that they experienced at dawn on September 25, 2023, after attending the Siomai Festival in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City.
Carlo (not his real name), a 21-year-old construction worker from Sitio Upper Sta, Ana, Barangay Labangon, was named as the suspect.
The victim was accompanied by her mother to the Labangon Police Station 10 to report the crime.
The victim, Shantel, 18, (whose real name is withheld), claimed that about 4 a.m. she was walking home after attending the Siomai Festival when she saw Carlo appearing to be throwing up from alcohol on the side of the road.
She said she continued walking but the suspect followed her and abruptly jumped on her, causing them to fall to the ground.
According to Shantel, she told the suspect to take her wallet and cellphone while avoiding physical contact with him.
However, she claimed that Carlo grabbed her and brought her to the roadside banana trees, where she was stripped of her clothes and sexually assaulted.
The victim added that the suspect then imprinted a kiss mark on the left side of her neck and ordered her to perform oral sex.
She claimed that after waiting for her classmates to go home first, her cousins abandoned her and she had to return home alone.
After the incident, Shantel hurried home to tell her brother what had happened, and their father overheard her.
Carlo was positively identified when police checked the CCTV footage of the area.
The Labangon police led by Major Angelito Valleser immediately conducted a follow-up operation and arrested the suspect.
In a radio interview, Carlo confessed to the crime but said that he did not molest victim, whom he described as drunk.
He claimed that the victim stayed close to him as they were walking home together
"Nagsikit-sikit naman na sa akoa mao to giguyod naku sa kilid, mikuyog man sad siya, wala man sad siya ni angal sir mao to nagtuo ko nga ok ra siya, sa wala pana nahitabo niingon siya nga gidugo kuno siya maong hinaya lang," Carlo said.
(She stayed close to me, so I had to drag her to the side of the road. She did not resist and followed me. I believed she was all right. Before the incident, she warned me not to be harsh because she had a monthly period).
The suspect admitted to his mistake and apologized to the victim, but the Labangon police still filed a rape complaint against him.(AYB, TPT)
