Austrian accused of fondling minor

An Austrian who is here on vacation was arrested inside an uptown mall after allegedly committing acts of lasciviousness against a 13-year-old girl for whom he offered to buy clothes last Thursday afternoon.

Werner Rachinper, 42, of Wallseerstrasse, Austria, was arrested after a 13-year-old vendor sought the help of a saleslady after he allegedly molested her.

The girl told the city police Women and Children's Concern Section that at around 5:45 p.m. last Thursday, she was selling quail eggs outside the mall when Rachinper approached her and asked what kind of eggs she was selling.

In the course of their conversation Rachinper asked her if she was hungry and then gave her P10 for food. Minutes later Rachinper again saw her roaming outside the mall and came to her again, offering to buy clothes for her.

When they were inside the mall Rachinper chose the shirts for her, but allegedly kept fondling her breasts.

Eventually, Rachinper told her to go to a fitting room to make sure that the shirts he had chosen would fit her. But as she began to undress inside the fitting room Rachinper reportedly opened the curtain and the girl hurriedly got dressed, ran out and caught the attention of a saleslady.

She told everything to the saleslady who called mall security to arrest Rachinper. The suspect was later turned over to the Fuente police station before being taken to the Camp Sotero Cabahug stockade.

Charges of acts of lasciviousness are set to be filed against him. - Flor Z. Perolina