CEBU, Philippines - For allegedly refusing to have sex with him, a man raped and stabbed his girlfriend dead in Barangay Quiot, Cebu City yesterday dawn.
Suspect Benedicto Logreno, 48, who works as a laborer, was arrested hours after he killed 25-year-old Jeysila Muñoz, a native of Getafe, Bohol, who temporarily lived in Barangay Quiot and worked as a laundrywoman.
Homicide Section investigation showed that Muñoz tried to escape from Logreno after he raped her, but the suspect caught up with her and stabbed her repeatedly, resulting in her immediate death.
The incident happened at past 4 a.m. yesterday in Sitio Viewhills.
According to the victim’s boardmate, Merlyn De Asis, she saw Muñoz asking a female boardmate to let her hide in the latter’s room because Logreno, who was armed with a knife, was looking for her and was threatening to kill her.
Logreno allegedly got irked after Muñoz shared with her friends that he raped her in her room.
The suspect appeared and destroyed the door of the female boardmate’s room, prompting the victim and the other occupants to jump out of the window and run away.
Logreno chased Muñoz and eventually cornered her in an alley and stabbed her several times with a 13-inch kitchen knife.
Muñoz died immediately due to multiple stab wounds in her body, mostly in the stomach.
The suspect then ran away and left behind the murder weapon inside his shanty nearby.
By the time policemen arrived, Logreno was no longer there but they recovered the bloodied knife.
They found the half-naked body of Muñoz sprawled on the ground.
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Mariano Natu-el, Jr. said he gathered his men from the City Intelligence Branch, Investigation and Detective Management Branch, and the Homicide Section and launched a hot pursuit operation.
They eventually accosted the suspect at past 10 a.m. yesterday at the port in Toledo City, apparently about to board a vessel bound for his native town, San Carlos City in Negros Occidental.
Natu-el said that through Logreno’s identification card that he left in his house, they learned that he hails from Negros Occidental.
“Mostly, sa ingon ani na panghitabo, the suspect has nowhere to go ug muadto sa iyang hometown. So, nagpamasin ‘ta na muuli siya sa San Carlos City and duol ngadto is Toledo City so nag-send ta og tawo didto,†Natu-el disclosed.
In Toledo City, they showed to residents Logreno’s photo and eventually located him at the port in Barangay Poblacion.
Logreno did not resist arrest.
The suspect, escorted by the police, arrived at the CCPO headquarters at 2 p.m. and was presented to Natu-el and to the media.
Logreno, in an interview with reporters, admitted to the crime but denied raping Muñoz.
“Wala ra ‘to nako siya ma-rape. Napatay g’yud nuon nako. Napuno na man gud ko, sir,†Logreno told Natu-el before the media.
Logreno claimed Muñoz is his girlfriend for one week now.
“Naglagot ko sa iyang mga istorya gud. Muhangyo ko niya anang butanga, mudili siya, muingon pa ug ‘Eeee’. Patyon na lang daw nako siya. Maayo ra siya sa uban, nako dili,†the suspect lamented.
He further alleged that prior to the incident, Muñoz was with two men in her room and he got jealous.
Munoz’s mother, Rowena Puerin, 56, said her daughter came to Cebu City to look for a job about two years ago.
Muñoz was separated from her husband and they have two children, aged eight and six.
If the autopsy result would show that Muñoz was raped, police will file rape with homicide complaints against the suspect, said Natu-el.
Meanwhile, two men who allegedly raped their nine-year-old niece were arrested by the police in a hot pursuit operation Tuesday afternoon in Argao town.
Suspects Romil Remoroza, 19, and Roland Remoroza, 27, allegedly started to molest the girl since she was eight years old.
PO3 Ivy Catipay, Women’s and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD), said that every time the parents of the girl go to the market to buy vegetables to be sold, the suspects would molest her.
It was only last June 30 when the mother noticed that there something happened with her daughter.
The mother immediately took the girl to the police station that resulted in the arrest of Romil while Roland voluntarily surrendered Tuesday evening.
Catipay took the girl to the Isidro C. Kintanar Memorial Hospital and the medical examination showed that the victim has lacerations in her private part.
A case of rape in relation to RA 7610 or the Protection Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination was filed yesterday at the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office. – /MBG (FREEMAN)