Police recover Tondo gang rape video, arrest 4th suspect
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2019 09:06:42 +0000
By RIA FERNANDEZ
Police are looking for other possible victims of a group of young men who allegedly raped a 16-year-old girl in Tondo, Manila, last Tuesday.
Manila Police District (MPD) Station 1 Police Supt. Reynaldo Magdaluyo expressed belief that the seven-man gang called “Tondo F***boys” also victimized other girls following the arrest of the fourth suspect and the recovery of two videos of the alleged rape. He urged those victimized by the gang to come forward and file cases against them.
On Wednesday night, police arrested suspect Richard (not his real name), 19, during a follow-up operation in Barangay 117, Zone 9 of Tondo.
Prior to his arrest, three other members of his group, aged 18, 20 and 25, were apprehended on complaints of the girl.
Authorities later retrieved a group chat of the suspects where they laughed at and made light of the gang rape. They even posted the private parts of the girl in their online chat room.
Police also recovered a video of the rape incident taken by the suspects.
Investigators learned that the group would befriend and invite their target victim to a drinking spree and later drug and rape her while taking video of the scene.
Richard said he was not present when his friends sexually abused the victim last Tuesday morning.
However, he admitted that something happened between him and the victim the next day but pointed out that it cannot be considered as rape because it was consensual.
He said the victim asked him to help her find her two cellular phones. But before that, he brought her to his place where he filmed her while she was sucking his genital.
The victim, however, denied Richard’s claim about their relationship.
In her complaint, the victim claimed that prior to the gang rape, her best friend invited her to his house for a drink with his group in the wee hours of March 19.
During their drinking session, she lost consciousness. She was then brought to a room where her drinking buddies sexually abused her.
One of the arrested suspects said he is willing to marry the victim to avoid getting jailed, but the girl and her mother declined his offer.
The mother of the victim has already appealed to President Duterte to help them get justice for her daughter.
Police are hunting down three more men as they clarified that there are seven, not six, suspects in this case.
Meanwhile, rape charges in relation to Republic Act No. 7610 or the Anti-Child Abuse Law were filed against the four arrested suspects.
Richard was also charged with violation of Republic Act No. 9995 or the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009.