The body of a minor, a victim of molestation, was found Tuesday night at Km. 112 in Brgy. Dancalan, Ilog, Negros Occidental, police said.

In Victorias City , a 42-year-old housewife identified as Imelda Manapo, was brutally killed and also sexually molested by a still unidentified suspect in Brgy. 10, the National Bureau of Investigation said.

The latest victim of rape-slay was 8-year-old Lilibeth Nucos, a grade 1 pupil of Magsaysay Elementary School in Brgy. Dancalan, Ilog.

Police said her body was already decomposing, when found in an abandoned nipa hut owned by Tessie Paglumutan, at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, in the place.

Police investigations showed the victim had been sexually molested as indicated by a laceration in her genital parts, citing initial findings of Dr. Joseph Quijano of the Ilog Rural Health Unit.

Quijano also noted burn-like blisters in the right shoulder, arm and at the back of the victim, as well as hematomas in both sides of her neck.

SPO2 Ric Salvador Bontigao, officer-in-charge of the Ilog police, said the victim died of strangulation, also referring to the medical findings of Quijano.

Investigations by the Ilog Police Women and Children's Protection Center showed that the victim failed to return home on Monday afternoon, after class at Magsaysay Elementary School .

Bontigao, accompanied by PO2 LIza Fe Vingno, chief of the Ilog police Women and Children's Protection Center , yesterday inspected the crime site, and interviewed several persons living near the place.

Ilog police investigators are looking into the involvement of two to three suspects in the rape-slay of Nucos.

Meanwhile, NBI supervising agent Mamerto Cortez yesterday said Manapo who was found dead in a sugarcane field in Victorias City early this month, had 23 hack wounds in the head, aside from being molested by the suspect.

Cortez said autopsy reports of Dr. Nicasio Botin said there was a laceration in her genital area.

The body of Manapo, a farm worker, was found by her husband, half-naked, and “spread-eagled”, Serafin, police said.

The Victorias police turned over the evidences they had gathered to the NBI-Bacolod, as requested by the family of the victim.

Rape topped the list of crimes committed against minors in Negros Occidental last year, although child abuses cases and exploitation reduced slightly, compared to 2006.

Police WCPC records indicated that 120 of the 220 crimes against minors in 2007 were sexually-related offenses.*GPB

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