Police arrest boy for raping, killing his 5-year-old cousin

By JOEY NACALABAN
Correspondent .

POLICE yesterday arrested a 12-year-old boy and then handed him over to social workers for allegedly raping and killing his five-year old cousin in Gitagum, Misamis Oriental.

Senior Insp. Ron Baba, Gitagum police chief, said the police’s crime laboratory confirmed that the victim was strangled and raped.

The girl was under the care of her grandmother who lives in Purok 7, Barangay Cogon, Gitagum town; her father is out of town, working.

Baba said the victim was last seen by a farmer with her cousin in Barangay Cogon at around 4 pm on Wednesday.

Baba said the two children went towards the bushes to pick some fruits.

Baba said the boy told investigators that they ate some mangoes, and were about to look for some guava fruits but the girl decided to leave.

“He claimed that the girl ran off because she was worried that her grandmother was already looking for her,” Baba said.

But Baba said the girl never found her way  back home, prompting her grandmother to ask the help of barangay officials and relatives.

Baba said the group later went to the house of the boy and asked him where his cousin was, and he immediately brought them to the spot where the girl was found dead.

“According to the grandmother, the boy quickly pointed to where the dead girl was,” Baba said.

Villagers found the girl’s body covered by grass. However, the girl was fully clothed.

The suspect denied any hand in killing his cousin but police said all evidence pointed at him.

Since the suspect is a minor, authorities turned him over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Police have also pressed rape with homicide charges against the suspect. Baba said it would be up to the prosecutors and the court to decide on the boy’s fate.