A SEVENTEEN-year-old student could have been raped had her father failed to catch the suspect in the act of committing the crime.
Ignacio, father of the victim Anna (not her real name), told police who responded to the incident that he was in a neighbor's internet cafe around 1 a.m. Wednesday when he heard sounds of scratches from his house which is only a few feet away from the establishment.
"When I immediately went up to my house to see what had happened, I saw him [suspect] without his shorts," Ignacio told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro Wednesday.
According to Anna, she was awake when the suspect entered their house.
"I was shocked when I saw him without his shorts on inside our house. He was holding a knife," Anna said.
Anna added that when the suspect forced himself on her she was able to stop the suspect by kicking him repeatedly before she shouted for help.
Police identified the suspect as Robert, 31, who denied the allegations.
"The door was opened. I entered the house since I thought a friend owned it. I just laid down on the floor to sleep. I was in underwear because that is what I am used to when sleeping," he told this paper.
Robert admitted he was on a drinking binge before he entered the house.
"After I drank four to five bottles of liquor, I got drunk. So I wanted to go home. I never thought I entered somebody’s house," he said.
He claimed he was shocked after Anna shouted for help when he entered the house prompting him to gag her using his palms.
Robert also said he went home immediately after he realized that it was not his house.
According to the victim’s 68-year-old neighbor, he heard the suspect has been involved in drugs recently but never in a rape incident.
"I haven't heard of anything that involves him [with] such incident," the witness told this paper.
Anna’s family said they are willing to file a case against Robert.
"The suspect might do it to others and succeed so it would be best to have him detained," Ignacio said.
Robert is now detained at the Agora police station while waiting for further investigation.