A PARRICIDE case is set to be filed before the court against the suspect who doused his three-year-old daughter with kerosene and then set her on fire.
Davao City Police Office (DCPO) spokesperson Senior Inspector Ma. Teresita Gaspan said the case will be filed once the primary complainant, who is the mother of the victim, will show up to file the formal complaint.
She said the parents of the victims are separated and the mother is not in Davao.
In the absence of the primary complainant, either the relatives of the victim, the barangay officials, or the police could file the case.
Police identified the suspect as Randy Nueva Cadiente, 44, a construction worker. The victim was Rhea Mae Sandy or Inday, three years old.
A source from City Prosecution Office who refused to be named for lack of authority to speak said that no complaint has been filed yet against the suspect.
Sasa Police Station commander Chief Inspector Emerson Pugong, in a phone interview, said police were still waiting for the death certificate of the victim and other necessary papers before they can file the complaint.
Once the documents are complete, Pugong said, they would accompany the suspect before the prosecution office for inquest proceedings. He added that they are going to file the complaint on frustrated parricide against the suspect.
Randy was reportedly drunk when he torched his daughter.
Initial investigation showed that Leonardo Contemplo Abli, a witness to the incident, said he went home at around 8 p.m. to sleep, but was awakened by the cries of the girl.
Abli said that when he saw Inday on fire, he doused her with water before calling Central 911.
The Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) doctors immediately attended to the child, who later died.
According to Randy, he did not know what he was doing but revealed that he got angry with the child because of her nonstop crying.
The police suspected that the father's anger stemmed from his separation from his wife.
Recovered at the house of the suspect was one gallon of kerosene and a disposable lighter.
The suspect is now under the custody of Sasa Police.
Gaspan said the suspect also attempted suicide when he found out what happened to his daughter. (With Jocel D. Beldia, Dennie Belle G. Valle, and Whitney A. Temon, UM AB-English Interns)