Pedicab driver preyed on 6-year-old girl during Niño feast

AFTER a beating from the mob, the rape and murder suspect is presented to Mayor Estrada on Tuesday. ERIKA SAULER

“I was drunk and high on drugs.”

A pedicab driver in Manila has confessed to raping and killing a 6-year-old girl who went missing in the crowd watching the feast of Sto. Niño on Sunday.

Mark Avila, 34, of Kahilum I, Pandacan, was presented to Mayor Joseph Estrada on Tuesday, after the police arrested him the previous night based on security camera footage that caught him walking with the minor, holding her by the hand, toward the area where her body would later be found.

Avila, who sported a black eye from the beatings he took from an angry mob upon his arrest, turned out to be known to the victim and her family.

According to the police, the girl’s mother cried “‘Anak, ko yan (That’s my daughter)!” when shown the video clip. She also recognized Avila and exclaimed: “Si kuya, kapitbahay namin yan (That man is our neighbor).”

Around 10 p.m. Sunday, the girl was among the crowd watching street dancers during the feast in front of their house in Kahilum when the suspect approached her and gave her a biscuit and some coins, the police said.

Her body was later found past midnight of Monday at the old Paco station of the Philippine National Railways on Quirino Avenue.

The Manila Police District’s Pandacan station in coordination with MPD homicide section formed a special investigation task group called “Oplan Pink Angel” to follow up on the case.

Authorities tried to trace the possible route the suspect had taken in luring the victim and asked permission from a printing company on Quirino Avenue to review its security camera footage.

Barangay officials verified the identity of the suspect, who was later arrested while driving a pedicab.

The victim’s parents sought assistance from the mayor’s office concerning funeral expenses.