ILOILO – A 77-year-old woman was mauled in Barangay Batiti, Concepcion town. Police arrested an 18-year-old lad who had been linked to a series of robbery incidents in the municipality.
Mila Causing was living alone and running a nearby school canteen. A village councilman found her with head injuries and half-naked outside her house around 5 a.m. on Tuesday.
“She likely tried to escape and seek help,” said Police Master Sergeant Ariel Palmera, Concepcion deputy chief of police.
Police subsequently arrested John Ray Clamares. A pair of slippers identified as his and found in Causing’s house led the police to suspect him.
The young man admitted the slippers were his, said Palmera.
Causing, meanwhile, was taken to the Sara District Hospital.
Palmera said Clamares appeared drunk when policemen arrested him.
“We told him to undergo a drug test but he refused. We respect his decision. But our investigation is continuing. He may have other companions,” said Palmera.
Clamares was not in the town police station’s drug watch list, he added.
Did the suspect commit rape?
Palmera said they would wait for the result of the medical examination on Causing.
What was so far clear, according to Palmera, was that no valuables from Causing’s house was missing, an indication that she was not a victim of robbery./PN
