ILOILO City – The eight-year-old girl hacked to death in Barangay Sarapan, Passi City on Sunday was raped, too, an autopsy showed.
The girl’s genitalia bore signs of penetration, according to Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) medico-legal officer Dr. Owen Lebaquin who performed the autopsy.
It confirmed the suspicion of the Passi City police that found the dead girl half-naked at a sugarcane plantation in Barangay Sarapan on Monday night.
The autopsy, however, could not ascertain what penetrated the girl, said Lebaquin.
This does not really matter, according to Superintendent Norberto Delmas, Passi City police chief.
“That there was penetration already proved rape was committed,” said Delmas.
The Passi City police was preparing a complaint for rape with homicide against suspect Harlie Cordada, 39, of Barangay Sarapan and a distant relative of the victim.
Cordada was arrested on Monday night and detained at the Passi City police station after the girl was found dead. Bloodstains on his shirt and shorts made his relatives and the police suspicious.
Delmas said the claim of Cordada’s mother that he was mentally disturbed was of no moment.
“It is the court that would decide on that. A doctor may be called to check his mental fitness,” said Delmas.
According to Hermelita Cordada, her son sustained a head injury from a hit-and-run vehicle when he was 17 years old and since then had been acting strangely.
He talked to himself and would scream that someone’s out to kill him, said Hermelita.
“Sang nag intra sya ka inom-inom daw naglala na gid siya,” according to the mother./PN
