Police have arrested the uncle of a six-year old girl whose body was found naked from the waist up along a grassy area Tuesday afternoon in Barangay Angliongto after he readily admitted to raping and killing his niece.
The suspect, Edgar Joseph Lucero, 21, a first cousin of the victim’s mother told police investigators he was under the influence of alcohol when he assaulted the girl.
Police sources said Lucero, jobless, was notorious in the neighborhood as a petty thief.
Police have earlier arrested one Ariosto Ablay Lumayas, 34 years old, who was drinking with Lucero the night the girl was missing.
According to PSI Ma. Teresita Gaspan, Davao City Police spokesperson, the first suspect was arrested on Tuesday night after being personally identified by the child’s 10-year-old cousin who last saw Lumayas with the girl.
Lumayas denied the accusation.
When found the body of the girl was naked from the waist up and police investigators did not rule out the possibility that she was raped before she was killed.
“Friend siya ng tito ng bata. While having a drinking spree sa bahay ng lolo ng bata, inutusan niya ang bata nga bumili ng kape tapos hindi na nakabalik,” said Gaspan.
Based on the spot report of Sasa Police Station, at about 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon of Sunday, May 14, the victim, who was a resident of Del Pilar, R. Castillo, Agdao, Davao City, was reported missing. Her body was found at 3:00 o’clock, Tuesday afternoon.
“We are encouraging the family to have the body of the child to be autopsied so we can determine the cause of death and if may nangyari pang physical abuse sa bata before siya pinatay,” Gaspan said on Wednesday.
The police are preparing to file murder and other possible charges against the suspect, pending the result of the ongoing investigation.
