BACOLOD CITY – The body of a seven-year-old girl was found inside a sack in a vacant lot in Barangay 6-A, Victorias City, Negros Occidental Sunday night.
Police withheld the name of the minor-victim, who was staying with her grandmother when her mother went to Iloilo.
According to Police Master Sgt. Hazel Dorado, head of Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD), the victim’s grandmother asked help from barangay officials when the child failed to go home that day.
The child was supposed to go with her grandmother to attend a burial early in the afternoon but she was not at home, Dorado said.
Her grandmother did not look for her that time, as she was just usually nearby, playing with other kids.
However, when her grandmother came home, the victim was still not at home.
After three hours of searching, they found her in a vacant lot, at 8 p.m., few meters away from the house of 39-year-old Mark Besa.
Dorado said no injuries were initially seen on the victim’s body, but she was subjected for autopsy to determine the cause of her death.
Dorado said the child was seen by their neighbors, allegedly talking to Besa, when the latter asked her to buy cigarettes for him, prior to the incident.
The WCPD head said they went to Besa’s house that night but he was not home.
Besa is being suspected by the victim’s grandmother as the one who allegedly committed the crime after he was last seen with the child, Dorado said.
She also said that Besa is a drug surrenderer. (Glazyl Masculino)