The police called it a miracle after an 8-year-old girl survived being raped, choked and left for dead by her neighbor in Taguig City.
Bea (not her real name) was playing outside their house in Barangay Ibayo-Tipas around 3 p.m. on Sunday when construction worker Sotero Manuguid Jr., who lived next door, called her.
Col. Alexander Santos, Taguig City police chief, said the suspect offered Bea P200 in cash if she would come with him.
“When they arrived at a vacant lot in their neighborhood, Maniguid punched her in different parts of her body. Not contented, he choked [Bea] until she lost consciousness and then raped her,” Santos told the Inquirer.
Left for dead
Convinced that she was dead, the suspect placed Bea inside a rice sack and then left the area. The young girl, however, regained consciousness and freed herself from the sack.
“It’s a miracle she was still alive. She crawled on the road for minutes until she was seen by her grandfather,” said one of the investigators from the Taguig City police’s women and children’s protection desk.
The child was covered in bruises and the first thing she told her family when she saw them was that her private part was “painful.”
Victim tags suspect
Bea was able to tell her parents that she was raped by Manuguid, prompting them to report the crime to the police.
When investigators showed her a photo of the suspect, she also confirmed that it was he who attacked her, Santos said.
Bea is still recuperating in a hospital as of Tuesday. Medical records confirmed that she had indeed been raped.
In a follow-up operation on Sunday night, Manuguid was arrested and taken to the Taguig police station where he was detained.
He was formally charged on Monday with rape and frustrated homicide in relation to Republic Act No. 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.