Marianeth was raped – NBI

DAVAO CITY — Results of the autopsy conducted yesterday on the exhumed remains of 12-year-old Marianeth Amper, who was earlier reported to have committed suicide allegedly because of extreme poverty, showed she was raped.

“In  my theory, in my book, the girl took her life because she was raped and not because of poverty,” Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said during a press conference here early last night wherein the results of the autopsy were presented to the media.

“From now on, the death of Marianeth, would be the subject of criminal investigation and not suicide as somebody else could have also killed her,” Duterte said.

According to Southern Mindanao Crime Laboratory Office head Dr. Tomas Dimaandal Jr., who conducted the autopsy, Amper’s genitals bore lacerations that could indicate rape.

Dimaandal likewise said that Amper died of a single neck injury based on the trauma that emerged wherein a single ligature mark was seen on her neck.   

The medico-legal officer also stressed that Amper was not pregnant contrary to earlier speculations.

Duterte pointed out that any sexual penetration on a girl as young as Amper would be considered rape even if she could have consented to it because of her young age.

“That is rape,” the mayor quipped.

Duterte said he already ordered Talomo police station chief Superintendent Matthew Baccay to invite Amper’s father, Isabelo, for questioning.

“I would really like to ask the father why he reported the incident to the police only last November 6 when the incident happened on November 2. Any father in his right mind would really go to the police and report the case immediately since it is your daughter who has died in that way,” Duterte said.

The mayor said other members of the Amper family and her teachers and classmates at the Ma-a Central Elementary School, shall also be called in for the probe on the circumstances of the young girl’s death.

Meanwhile, the mayor lashed out at National Anti-Poverty Commission chair Domingo Panganiban for criticizing the local government for not being able to address poverty in the area.

“Look, Davao City has been a consistent winner for three years now of an award by the nutrition council of the Department of Health and here is another agency, the NAPC, blaming us in the local government for what happened to Amper,” Duterte said.

The mayor explained that the city government has not been remiss in addressing poverty especially with its program of deputizing barangay health workers who check on the local situation.