CRIME South African arrested for ‘raping' 16-year-old

The Fuente Police Station arrested a South African national for allegedly raping a 16-year-old inside his hotel room on Gen. Maxilom Ave., Barangay Sta. Cruz last Sunday evening.

PO2 Sheryl Guanco, Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) personnel of the Police Station 2 of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) told SunStar Cebu that Ashley Russel Joseph, 49, enticed Clara (real name name withheld) to a shopping spree.

“They met in Facebook and Joseph went to the victim’s house in Sawang Calero last Sunday to invite her to shop in a mall. Her aunt tried to stop her from going but the victim went with Joseph,” Guanco said.

Since the victim recently moved in Cebu City from Leyte and wasn’t familiar with the place yet, her aunt got worried when the minor didn’t return home last Monday, Guanco said.

Clara’s aunt asked some trisikad drivers in their place who took note of the body number of the taxi that the two rode.

But because they didn’t get the taxi’s company name, her aunt checked the barangay’s close-circuit television (CCTV) camera and found it. They went to the taxi company’s office and talked to the driver, who told them the name of the hotel where Joseph brought Clara.

Her aunt then asked for assistance from Fuente Police, who arrested Joseph at 5:30 p.m. last Monday.

“When we arrived together with the social worker, the victim hugged her and cried. She said she doesn’t want to be with the foreigner anymore. That’s when we brought her to the pink room for physical and psychological exams and we found out that she had lacerations,” Guanco said.

In the police’s investigation, they discovered that Clara was allegedly raped four times at past 6 p.m. on Sunday after she shopped a dress and jeans with Joseph at the mall.

Joseph was detained at the Fuente Police Station while charges against him are prepared.