BACOLOD CITY – Rape with homicide charges were filed Tuesday against a drug surrenderer in connection with the slaying of a seven-year-old girl in Victorias City, Negros Occidental over the weekend.
Police Master Sergeant Hazel Dorado, head of Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD), said the charges were filed before the City Prosecutor’s Office against Mark Besa, 39, of Barangay 6-A.
Besa was arrested at his relative’s house in Ajuy, Iloilo province late Monday afternoon.
Some residents in the city expressed their anger and hatred against Besa for the crime, Dorado said. They even went to the City Prosecutor’s Office during the filing of the charges, but police were able to control the crowd, she added.
Dorado said the suspect executed an extrajudicial statement, admitting that he was under the influence of illegal drugs when he killed the child, but he denied raping the victim.
On June 3, Besa was last seen with the child when he asked her to buy cigarettes. In the evening that day, she was found some meters away from his house, stuffed in a sack at a vacant lot.
Dorado said the child’s autopsy results showed that the victim died of severe head injuries from mauling and she was raped as there was laceration seen on her hymen.
Dorado said Besa fled to Iloilo through a stolen pumpboat and hid at his relative’s house, where he was arrested.
Dorado said additional charges for robbery will be filed against Besa, soon.
He is detained at the police station. (Glazyl Masculino)
