Shabu triggers crime: Security guard apprehended in rape-slay of resort cashier

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines — The security guard of a resort in Panglao, who was arrested for raping and killing the cashier of the same establishment last Friday, has admitted the other day of taking shabu before the incident.

The suspect, 21-year-old Erwin Escomo, who is now detained in the jail of the Bohol Provincial Police in Camp Dagohoy, told The Freeman that he had two drug sessions with friends the night before.

He said it was his first time to take shabu and attributed his gruesome act to the volume of the drugs he had at the time.

A rape with homicide charge was filed on Monday at the provincial prosecutor against Escomo who in turn got himself a PAO lawyer and given 10 days to submit his affidavit. Preliminary hearing was set on January 18, while an autopsy, scheduled this week, would be conducted on the body of the victim.

The body of the victim, 23-year-old Josephine Satore, was found at around 7 a.m. Friday in a secluded area by a caretaker of a resthouse, 10 meters from the highway, just a few meters from the main entrance of the resort where she and the guard worked.

The caretaker recognized Satore and he reported the matter immediately to the tourist police then manned by PO1 Sane Roto, whose team in turn relayed the information to the Panglao Police.

Responding policemen, SPO1 Christopher Pineda and PO3 Harold Tejada, arrived at the resort to investigate and Escomo came later supposedly to report for work. They then brought Escomo to the police headquarters for interrogation.

Inspector Caesar Acompañado, Panglao Police chief, said Escomo initially denied involvement and pointed at other friends as the perpetrators. He however gave in when he ran out of alibis later on. This prompted the police to book him in as the suspect to the crime.

In the story narrated by Escomo himself to the media, in the presence of some policemen, he admitted having taken shabu, hours before the crime. He said he left his post late that night without permission to join his friends to a party at a bar, along with Satore.

At around 4:30 a.m., Escomo told his friends that he would go ahead of them but Satore insisted to go with him in going home. So, they went home together, boarding a habal-habal. They stopped at the highway and agreed to just walk from the main road to the staffhouse.

After taking a few steps, Escomo said evil thoughts suddenly came to his mind, especially being alone in the dark with a woman he was became fond of. Seduced by the ambiance of seclusion, Escomo suggested to Satore—then very drunk also—that they go “intimate.”

Despite being inebriated, Satore refused, but Escomo saw it as a challenge instead. He then hit her in the stomach, causing her to lose consciousness, and giving him the chance to molest her sexually. Escomo recalled that, after consummating his evil acts, he panicked on how to hide what happened, but thought that killing her was the best way to silence every thing.

Escomo said he pricked both her eyes with barbecue sticks, and forced a twig of quarter-inch diameter wood into her private parts. He then carried her body and dumped it on a bushy part of the secluded area just 10 meters from where he killed her.

Just as the sun gave enough light on the crime scene later that morning, passers-by discovered Satore’s body with only her spaghetti-strapped blouse on while naked down from the waistline. Her white shorts and yellow underwear were laid just a foot away from her feet that were spread out.

The sight tore the hearts of Satore’s family and friends as they cry for justice through wall posts that flooded the victim’s still active Facebook account as of press time.

Escomo claimed that he was from Mindanao and a former MNLF member. He said he sought employment in Manila before coming to Bohol.

He further admitted that the immediate option he had thought after killing Satore was to flee to Cebu that morning to hide. He went straight to the seaside to wash his bloodied hands, but his conscience haunted him, so he decided to return to the resort and found that the police were already there waiting for him.

Bohol Police Provincial director Constantino Barot Jr., said they are still verifying Escomo’s claim that he had once served as a soldier in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, the illegal drugs that Escomo blamed for his actions coincided with unconfirmed reports that packs of shabu have been sneaked through pump boats that docked at the beaches of Panglao without suspicion from authorities.

Escomo’s revelation prompted police investigators to, again, look into the illegal drugs trade allegedly flourishing in the tourist town as what Mayor Benedicto Alcala earlier disclosed. - THE FREEMAN