‘GOOD SAMARITAN’ TO FACE CHILD ABUSE CASE

The mothers of six girls trusted a Russian national who helped them after their houses were razed by fire in Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City in July last year.

“They did not doubt him. He was like a good Samaritan to them,” said SPO2 Marjorie Paller in a phone interview.

But the Russian, identified as Dmitri Nikuli, 45, was arrested by police in his rented house in a subdivision in Barangay Lamac, Consolacion at 1 a.m. yesterday. His arrest came three days after a 67-year-old German national was caught for allegedly bringing minors inside an apartment in Lapu-Lapu City.

Paller led the Consolacion Police Station-Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) personnel in rescuing six girls, ages 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 16. The arrest came after the mother of the nine-year-old girl reported to the police that Nikuli touched the child’s privates for the first time. The girl’s mother and another parent were preparing dinner last Thursday night when they heard a scream from the second floor. They checked where the noise came from and found the girl naked in the foreigner’s room.

“The foreigner allegedly bathed the girl. He wore only boxer shorts,” Paller said in Cebuano. Two other girls, ages 5 and 8, claimed they were also touched by Nikuli, who denied the allegations to the police. Last Wednesday, Nikuli sponsored the birthday party of one of the girls held in a beach resort in Compostela.

“They should double check. They should not be swayed by the money offered to them,” Paller reminded all parents.

She said that the mothers each received a monthly allowance of P3,000 from Nikuli for their studies and grocery. Nikuli came from Texas before he arrived in Cebu. Complaints for violating the Anti-Rape Law, in relation to the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act, will be filed against him.