The National Bureau of Investigation yesterday called on the driver of the vehicle that picked up the teacher who was badly beaten up, raped, dumped in a Bago City irrigation canal and killed to come forward and turn state witness.

NBI Bacolod chief Philip Pecache said it was a painful and traumatic end for Allen Hope Barcoma, 23.

The teacher was picked up in the evening of Aug.1 from her boarding house in Binalbagan town by a white car.

Witnesses disclosed that when the vehicle arrived between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. of Aug. 1 a passenger sitting in the front seat got out and let Barcoma in the back seat where he also seated himself, while the driver did not get out of the car, Pecache said.

There was no indication that she was forcibly taken, she willingly went with the person who picked her up, an indication that she knew him, he said.

"If the driver has a conscience he should report to the nearest police station what he knows so he can help in the case," Pecache said, adding that if the driver turns himself in his culpability could be lessened.

Pecache said any evidence the NBI gets will be given to the police to be collated with what they already have for the filing of charges.

NBI medico legal officer Nicasio Botin who conducted an autopsy on Barcoma has confirmed that she was raped, Pecache said.

The contents of Barcoma's intestines showed that she had not eaten anything after she was picked up that evening, he said.

After she was picked up she must have been killed between 7 and 10 p.m. after she was beaten up for refusing to allow whoever picked her up to rape her, Pecache said.

Pecache said it is possible that Barcoma was killed in Bacolod and her body was dumped in Bago as it was the nearest secluded place for the assailant. Her assailant appeared to be very angry at her, Pecache said.

Barcoma had a lot of hematomas, contusions and bruises on different parts of her body indicating that she did not want what was being done to her, Pecache said.

She received painful blows and her last moments appeared to be very traumatic, Pecache said.

There is a presumption that she was still alive before her body was placed in the water face down, Pecache said.

When her face was in the water her air passage was blocked by water and that is believed to have caused her death from asphyxia, Pecache said.

A smooth surface was noted on the back of her head that could mean someone stepped on it to keep it beneath the water and cause her suffocation, he said.

A nylon cord was recovered but there did not appear to be marks in her neck to produce strangulation, he said, but this will be determined when the autopsy report comes out.

Pecache said samples were taken from the vagina of the victim to determine the DNA of the person who raped her.

DNA vocal swabs were also taken from the parents of Barcoma to match with the samples taken from their daughter, he said. The DNA results that do not match with that of the parents of the victim will then be isolated and matched with the DNA of her suspected assailants, Pecache said. Pecache said the NBI is investigating past boyfriends of the victim.

Meanwhile, the NBI is awaiting an exhumation permit from the Department of Health so that it can conduct an autopsy on Heide Obansa, 11, of San Carlos City who was allegedly raped and killed by a 15-year-old boy.

The boy also allegedly sexually abused a 12-year-old male twice from the rear end, the police reported.*CPG

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