PARANG, Maguindanao (MindaNews/06 July) – The parents of a 7-year-old girl raped and killed by her attacker has sought the help of President Rodrigo Duterte to obtain justice for their daughter.
“Death by hanging for the killer of my daughter. I want him to feel the pain too as soon as possible,” Lorie Garcia, mother of Grade 2 pupil “Anika” (not her real name), said of her daughter’s attacker.
Chief Insp. Allan Bulusan, Parang town police chief, said Anika was killed by “asphyxia secondary to strangulation.”
“The victim was sexually molested,” Bulusan said, citing post-mortem examination on the victim’s remains.
Benito, the victim’s father, said the suspect killed his daughter with her own skirt. The same skirt was placed atop her coffin.
The still unknown assailant dumped the victim’s body in an open septic tank in Barangay Magsaysay, Parang on July 2, the same day she was killed.
Benito recalled that on Saturday morning (July 2), his daughter was last seen heading to a nearby store to buy candy.
She has not returned since, forcing the family to seek neighbors’ help in locating her.
Around 6;30 pm on Saturday, she was found in an abandoned septic tank also in the same village without her lower garments and with the skirt around her neck.
Anika was a second honor pupil in grade one last year.
“We have no known enemies here, we are just a poor fishing family,” the mother said.
“President Digong, please help us give justice to our daughter,” she appealed.
“A search warrant is expected to come out any time after we shall have filed the charges against the suspect,” Bulusan said..
Benito admitted that illegal drugs are rampant in Magsaysay. He suspected that a drug user was behind the ruthless killing of his daughter.
On Tuesday, about 100 self-confessed drug dependents, all from Magsaysay, “surrendered” to the Parang police office.
After the incident young girls have stayed home for fear they would be the next victims.
Residents have called for the imposition of curfew in the village. (Ferdinandh Cabrera/MindaNews)