Police brutality seen in girl’s death

NOEMI Mirabiles, who earns a living by begging on the streets of Cebu City, clings to the coffin bearing the body of her daughter, Chastity, 11, also a beggar, who was killed after physical abuses suffered allegedly in the hands of Chief Insp. Wildemar Tiu and his men. TONEE DESPOJO/CEBU DAILY NEWS

CEBU CITY—Life on the streets as a beggar ended in a violent death for an 11-year-old girl and possible criminal charges for the policeman who had been accused of beating the girl and her companion up after the children were rounded up as part of the city government’s campaign to keep street children away from crimes.

The two girls, both 11-year-olds, were picked up by police on April 5. The next day, one of the girls, 11-year-old Chastity Mirabiles, who had been begging in the streets, collapsed. She was brought to the city hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.

The Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) officials became suspicious and started investigating.

The other 11-year-old girl, also a beggar and who had kept Chastity company, told DSWS officials how they were beaten up and subjected to electric shock by Chief Insp. Wildemar Tiu, head of the Fuente police station, and his subordinates.

Tiu is now facing investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation and DSWS for manhandling the street children.

Tiu, who is on leave since April 20, denied beating the girls up. “Why should I hurt children when they are just victims of their parents?” he said.

NBI Assistant Director Augusto Isidoro said they decided to intervene because the accusations were “too serious to be ignored.”

“The victim here is a child, a girl at that,” he said on Thursday.

According to the other 11-year-old girl, Chastity was sleeping on the pavement outside a convenience store near Fuente Osmeña Rotunda around 2 a.m. on April 5 when a policeman arrived and kicked her on the face.

The witness said the policeman “threw” Mirabiles into a police car and brought Mirabiles and the other girl to Fuente police station.

The other girl claimed that she and Mirabiles were given electric shock inside the police station.

Chief Insp. Wildemar Tiu

The two girls were released from police custody around 7 a.m. of April 6. Since Mirabiles was too weak to walk, her companion had to carry her in her back while they headed to Fuente Osmeña.

On April 5, Mirabiles was able to go home in Barangay Sambag II here. The following day, she returned to Fuente Osmeña to beg. At noon, she collapsed.

Bystanders called an ambulance and rushed Mirabiles to the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), where the girl was declared dead.

Tests made at the CCMC said the cause of the girl’s death could have been dengue or heatstroke.

But Dr. Rene Cam, NBI medico-legal officer who conducted an autopsy on Mirabiles, said he couldn’t support the hospital findings because no lab tests were conducted.

Cam, however, said he found four injuries caused by being hit with a blunt object on the girl’s body and which could have caused her death.

The injuries, Cam said, were too much for a girl in Mirabiles’ age to bear.

“At her age, those injuries were very painful, really very painful,” said Cam.

“If one can’t bear the pain, he or she will go into shock,” he said.

The injuries were found on her left and right chest, right lower abdomen and right elbow, and could have been caused by being hit with either a fist, wood or any object that could cause hematoma.

Cam could not confirm if the girl was given electric shock since he could not find any signs of it.

Noemi Mirabiles, 42, who walks with the help of a cane and also begs for a living, said she hoped justice would be served for her daughter.

“I dreamt of her the other day. She was crying. She was asking me to help her. And I promised that I will not stop until justice is served,” she said.