Malate rape-slay suspect arrested

Police arrested yesterday a suspect in the rape-slay of a pretty waitress whose half-naked body was discovered at a street corner in Malate, Manila early Saturday morning.

Pedicab driver Sonny Liro, 30, of Sandejas street, Malate was positively identified by witnesses as the person they had seen sexually abusing the victim in his tricycle near his residence.

Chief Inspector Alejandro Yanquiling Jr., Manila Police District homicide section chief, said Liro bore scratches on his back and chest, an indication that he could have figured in a physical struggle with the victim.

The victim was earlier identified as Cristina Aguilar, 18, a waitress at the Zeus restaurant along Zobel Roxas street in Malate. Her body, bearing several stab wounds, was found by a pedicab driver at the corner of Don Pedro and Arellano streets.

Manila policemen, who theorized that the victim had been raped, rounded up several pedicab drivers along Vito Cruz street Sunday night, and witnesses pointed to Liro as Aguilar’s rapist and killer.

Liro vehemently denied the accusation, saying he was with his wife playing bingo the whole Friday night until the wee hours of the morning.

He admitted though that he had ferried several women past Friday midnight since it was raining heavily at that time, but stressed that the victim was not one of his passengers.

“None of my women passengers had the same clothes the victim was wearing when she was seen dead. Besides, my wife had been with me the whole Friday night until Saturday morning,” Liro said in the vernacular.

But Yanquiling said Liro’s alibi is considered weak and they are preparing to file murder with rape charges against him.        – Nestor Etolle