8-year-old girl raped, slain by addict in Lucena City

LUCENA CITY — An 8-year-old girl was killed after she was raped by a rugby glue sniffer in a secluded spot on the outskirts of this city on Wednesday, May 31, police said in a report on Thursday, June 1, 2023.

The father of the victim said he sent the girl to buy coffee in a nearby store in Barangay Gulang-Gulang on Tuesday night, May 30, but she did not return home.

Police said that at 11:10 a.m. on Wednesday, one Julius Rodas, a resident of the city, reported to the barangay office that he found a dead naked body of a girl lying in the grassy portion of the village.

Lieutenant Colonel Ruben Ballera Jr., Lucena police chief, ordered the investigators to conduct a backtracking of all footage from closed-circuit cameras in the vicinity.

The investigators found out from the footage that the victim was with Rodas before she was raped and killed.

During the investigation, Rodas reportedly admitted responsibility for the crime.

Ballera, in a television interview Thursday morning, said the suspect gave P100 to the girl to go with him to the spot where he raped and killed her.

The victim’s family depends on begging for a living.

The police identified Rodas as a known rugby user. The suspect admitted that he sniffed solvent before he raped his victim and strangled her to death.

The suspect was detained and is facing criminal charges.

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