Body of missing girl, 8, found w/slashed throat

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — An 8-year-old Grade 3 pupil of Babajuba Elementary School in this city was found dead with a slashed throat early morning of Wednesday, after she was reported missing to the police for failing to come home the night before.

The victim, identified as Catherine Sinuag of Brgy. Bajumpandan this city, was found inside a sugarcane field several meters away from her house. Her school backpack was intact, and she was still wearing her uniform with short pants and underwear, but her throat was slashed and she had several wounds in her hands and arms, indicating that she could have resisted from her assailants.

Her parents, Judith and Patricio, together with relatives and friends, were accompanied by Barangay Councilman Gorio Aragones and tanods in looking for the girl after she failed to go home that night from school. They failed until the following morning when they found her body.

According to school officials, they released the pupils from school at around 4:10 p.m. Tuesday due to some school activities and Catherine went home alone via a short route, passing by the walls of the Franciscan Sisters adjacent to a sugarcane field.

Superintendent James Goforth, City Police chief, yesterday admitted that the police were still facing a blank wall on the motive of the killing and the identity of the killer. He said all possibilities were being investigated, and he appealed to potential witnesses and the public, who may have any information related to the crime, to help the police.

Potential evidences that could provide police with links to the solution of the crime included a bladed tool used for harvesting sugarcane, to be tested at the PNP Crime Lab, and strands of hair in one of the girl’s hands that will be subjected to DNA testing, Goforth said.

Goforth said the City Police has requested the Police Regional Office-7 for an autopsy of the victim’s body to determine if she was raped prior to her death. A post-mortem examination was already conducted by City Health Officer Sarah Tallah.

A person of interest, identified as a certain Ernesto Sagaysay, is now in custody of the police for questioning after he was overheard by some people at the crime scene saying he was with the girl’s father on a drinking spree. What had caught the attention of the police was the blood stains of Sagaysay’s shirt.

After the body was brought by the funeral parlor, Bajumpandan Councilman Dario Inquig noticed Sagaysay also chatting with a person that he had a drinking spree with the victim’s father the night before. Inquig also noticed a fresh blood stain at the back of his shirt and a swollen hand, prompting him to report to the police.

Sagaysay vehemently denied responsibility to the crime, narrating to the police his drinking jaunt with the girl’s father. Blood specimen from his shirt and the girl’s body will also be tested at the Crime Lab, said Goforth. (FREEMAN)