Massage therapist charged with rape

CEBU, Philippines - A male massage therapist was charged with rape before a Regional Trial Court in Cebu City for allegedly raping his Korean customer.

A 21-year-old Korean woman accused Junrel Castillo of raping her inside a massage parlor along Mango Avenue while she and three other Korean friends had a body massage in the afternoon of last February 8.

Castillo, a massage therapist working at the said massage parlor, was assigned to handle the victim because there was no female massage attendant available when she arrived.

The victim, in her affidavit said, it was the first time she had a massage since her arrival in the Philippines on January 23.

According to the victim, while she and three of her Korean friends were already inside the massage parlor, they were told that a male therapist will conduct the massage because there was no female available.

The victim said she asked her friend if it was okay before she obliged herself to take a male therapist. The victim said she was comfortable at first because she shared a room with her friend.

However, when her friend was finished she and the accused were left alone in the room.

To her surprise, the victim said, the accused suddenly took off her massage wardrobe and started to rape her.

The victim said she tried to shout but the accused allegedly covered her mouth. After the incident the victim said they immediately report the incident to the police station.

A follow-up operation was conducted by the police but the suspect was no longer around. The management of the massage parlor told the police that the suspect went outside but did not return.

The Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office, which issued the indictment against the accused, did not recommend bail for his temporary liberty.

Meanwhile, a 17-year-old minor was arrested after he was accused of raping his 18 year-old-girl neighbor Monday evening in Barangay Mahawak, Medellin town.

Last Tuesday, Niña (not real name), a resident of the place, went to the Medellin police and alleged that she was raped by her neighbor Jay (not real name), a trisikad driver.

The victim narrated that she was on her way home riding a trisikad driven by the suspect from Barangay Kawit.

But upon reaching the boundary of barangays Kawit and Mahawak, the suspect stopped in a secluded place and forced the victim to go to the bushes.

The victim resisted but the suspect pulled out a knife and pointed it to her. Afraid of her life, she said she did not resist and just follow what the suspect wanted her to do.

The suspect brought the victim to the bushes and raped her.

Policemen then conducted an operation and arrested the suspect inside their house. Confiscated from him was a knife he allegedly used in threatening the victim.

The suspect was then turned over to Department of Social Welfare and Development while the victim was turned over to police women’s desk. — Fred P. Languido with Christopher Gabriel Bonjoc/LPM   (FREEMAN NEWS)