BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — An unidentified man gunned down a 15-year-old boy at a secluded portion of Bredco Port at the Reclamation Area in this city, then raped the 14-year-old girlfriend of the victim.
Police said the victim, Joshua Bornales, a resident of Doña Juliana Heights Subdivision in Barangay Taculing of this city, succumbed to an injury on his head. He was rushed to Western Visayas Regional Hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
It took almost an hour for authorities to respond to the incident because no one saw the incident when it happened Sunday afternoon.
The victim's girlfriend was the one who reported the incident to the police, and complained that she was sexually molested by the assailant shortly after the shooting.
The girl told police authorities that, while she and Bornales were having their date at the port, she noticed the man was intently looking at them.
Thinking that the man was just curious about them, and being a young couple, the girl said she did not mind it.
Shortly later, there was heavy rain and this prompted the boy and the girl to run for shelter at a man-made "cave" nearby. The man however followed them and immediately aimed a gun at Bornales.
Senior Supt. Ricardo dela Paz, City Police director, told The FREEMAN: "We surmised that there was resistance on Bornales' part that's why the suspect readily shot him."
After shooting Bornales, the gunman raped the girl right there and then. After the sexual molestation, the suspect changed his shirt before leaving the victims.
"We have established that robbery was not a motive. We even suspected that the assailant was only after sex. He was drunk and he saw the boyfriend to be a hindrance in consummating his desire," dela Paz said.
The suspect apparently planned his act because he even changed shirt so as not to be recognized by authorities who might ran after him, said the police official.
As this developed, dela Paz said he already organized a task force to investigate the matter, and identify and arrest the suspect.
According to the raped victim, their assailant was around 30-35 years old, medium built, and has brown complexion.