A member of Tagbilaran City’s Active Local Emergency Response Team (ALERT) has been considered as among persons of interest in the alleged rape of an 18-year-old female student inside the Cogon Public Market last week.
It was the victim, Tasing (not her real name), who personally pinpointed the ALERT member as among three men who accosted her and forcibly took her inside the Cogon Public Market’s restroom, said Tagbilaran City police chief Supt. Patricio Degay in an interview over station dyRD’s “Tagbilaran by Night.”
Four members of the ALERT team were earlier presented before Tasing through a police lineup and one of them was pointed out by her as a probable suspect, said Degay.
In her report to police, Tasing said that she was held by the suspects who then slammed her head into the wall causing her to lose consciousness before the alleged rape, but Degay had confirmed that there were traces of semen and lacerations found in the victim’s private part based on a medical examination conducted following the incident.
According to Degay, authorities have already secured a closed circuit television (CCTV) footage taken near the crime scene and it is now being reviewed in efforts to identify suspects behind the alleged rape of Tasing.
However, police have not yet disclosed the identity of the ALERT member as he is still not considered a suspect but is already set to be interviewed in relation to the crime, said Degay.
“The following day, ma-invite namin for interview, tanungin natin kung nasaan siya noong oras na nangyari, anong ginagawa niya,” said Degay. “Sa interview, medyo makikita mo kung nagsisinungaling o hindi.”
Meanwhile, police are also trying to identify another person of interest who the victim only described as “upawon.”
It has not yet been clarified whether the said person of interest is also a member of ALERT while no other person has been linked to the crime.
In the same report to police, Tasing had indicated that there were three men who attacked her at around 9 p.m. on September 10. (Allen Doydora)