Pinoy faces extradition for molesting cousin

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will extradite a 31-year-old Filipino man to Australia to stand trial for sexually molesting his cousin for five years.

NBI director Nestor Mantaring said NBI-Interpol agents arrested Gary Zabat Guban, also known as Ariston Zabat, at his rented house in Novaliches, Quezon City, where he and his wife have been running a printing business.

A Manila judge issued an arrest warrant against Guban after the Australian government filed an extradition case through the Philippine Department of Justice.

Guban was charged in New South Wales for molesting his cousin from November 1993, when she was seven years old, to February 1998. Guban was then living with the victim’s family.

The New South Wales police arrested Guban in May 1998. He admitted molesting the victim, but claimed it was consensual because she also wanted it.

A local hospital reported that the victim contracted a sexually transmitted disease from Guban, who later posted bail. His passport was seized as a condition of his bail.

The New South Wales police also notified the Department of Immigration that Guban illegally entered Australia under the name of Ariston Zabat. Australian immigration authorities then deported him to the Philippines in October 1998 without notifying the New South Wales police.