Parents charged for beating to death own child

BACOLOD City, Philippines – A couple was charged for parricide before the Bacolod City Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday for allegedly beating their six-year-old child to death last week. 

Charged were Bernard Nolan, 27; and Rachel Esguerra, 26; of B. S. Aquino Drive Barangay 5, Bacolod City, said case investigator Lovella Cordova.

The police arrested the couple on Oct. 27 when their daughter died several minutes after they brought her to the Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital in Bacolod, with injuries all over her body.

Based on the autopsy report conducted by City Medico Legal Officer Eli Cong, the child had hematomas in several parts of her body and that a vein in her head had burst.

Cong also hinted the possibility that she was a victim of molestation as there were at least three old lacerations noted on her private part.

Presented before the city prosecutor’s office as evidence against the couple were the blotter report, the child’s death certificate, the autopsy report, and the incidence report of a social worker who made a case study on the couple.

The police also presented in court the medical certificate issued by Dr. Ian Noel Jarabas, who is the attending physician of the child, as well as the child’s photos, a belt and an electric iron, allegedly used in beating the child.

Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra condemned the death of the child, and called for speedy justice.

In his pastoral letter Sunday, Navarra said he was struck by the news about the death of the child and reminded everybody that having children is not a burden but rather a blessing for the family.

“Parricide is not only a crime but also a sin, and as bishop, I share my prayers and sympathy to this six-year-old girl and all the children who have gone through this terrible pain,” Navarra said.