Charges of abduction and attempted rape were filed Wednesday against a man in Quezon City whom police had identified by tracking down the car he was using when he allegedly seized his teenage victim, a red Honda Jazz once registered to GMA7 network.
Jose Carlo Rosales, a resident of Project 2 and a brother of a GMA employee, was positively identified by his alleged victim when the latter was shown a set of photos, according to the Quezon City Police District.
The QCPD’s Kamuning station said the minor, a 13-year-old student of Ramon Magsaysay High School in Cubao, was able to remember the license plate—ZRD-461—of the red car driven by the man who grabbed and tried to rape her on July 1.
A check with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) later revealed the car to be registered to GMA Network Inc. But the network management later told investigators that the car had already been sold to sales director Maria Teresa Paula Rosales, who was yet to transfer the car’s registration papers to her name.
When the employee reportedly refused to cooperate in the probe, the police started searching for her male relatives or friends who may have had access to the car.
Members of the Kamuning station later found the Honda parked at Jose Carlos’ house in Project 2.
“When we showed a picture of Jose Carlo Rosales along with that of several other men to the victim, she immediately pointed to Rosales’ picture and said it was him,” an investigator told the Inquirer.
In her complaint, the girl said she was walking to school in the morning of July 1, near a bus terminal on New York Street, Cubao, when a red car stopped in front of her and the driver asked her for directions.
The driver then grabbed her by the arm, forced her into the car, and tried to molest her after finding a spot to park by the side of the road. She struggled to break free and kicked at the dashboard while crying for help.
The man released her apparently after realizing the damage she had done on the vehicle, the complaint said. From there, the girl went to report the attack to the police, giving the car’s plate number.
Over the weekend, another girl, aged 12, came forward claiming she too was abducted on Feb. 10 on K-7th Street in Barangay West Kamias, Quezon City, by the driver of a red car that had a similar license plate.
When shown photos, she also identified Rosales as the man who tried to rape her. But the QCPD’s Anonas station, which is handling the second complaint, has yet to file formal charges.