Story By: Simon Glover, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
An eight-year-old girl who was raped and strangled before being stuffed into a sack and left for dead has pointed the finger at her alleged attacker after bravely surviving the ordeal.
Sotero Manuguid Jr, 33, has been arrested after the little girl fought her way out of the sack and then crawled out onto the street where she was spotted by her grandpa.
The construction worker is accused of luring the girl by offering her 200 PHP (3.15 GBP) in cash after spotting her playing outside her home in the city of Taguig, in the Metro Manila capital region of the Philippines.
Pictures Credit: AsiaWire
Cops say Manuguid took the eight-year-old, whose name has not been released, to a patch of wasteland where he hit and strangled the child, before raping her.
Police Major Ramon Christian Laygo said he then hit the child again before putting her body inside a sack and leaving her for dead.
A spokesperson for the Taguig City police women and children’s protection unit said: “It’s a miracle she was still alive. She crawled on the road for minutes until she was seen by her grandfather.”
She was covered in bruises and the first thing she told her family was that her private parts were “painful”.
The young girl then told her parents what had happened and identified Manuguid as her attacker.
The family reported the incident to police and the eight-year-old confirmed the suspect’s identity after officers showed her a photograph.
Manuguid was arrested later that day and was taken into custody at Taguig City Police Station.
He has been charged with child rape and attempted murder. He denies the allegations telling police he saw the girl but did not attack her.
His alleged victim is now recovering in a district hospital where doctors confirmed she had been raped.
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