By Jennifer P. Rendon
Police have formally charged three brothers for the rape-slay of a 7-year-old girl in Estancia, Iloilo on December 19, 2022.
Lieutenant Arniel Buraga, Estancia police chief, identified the suspects as Roginald Agotera, 38, and his younger brothers, Rogen and Roniel, all residents of Barangay Daculan, a village adjacent to Gogo, the area where the incident happened.
The case for rape with homicide was filed afternoon of Jan 5, 2023 before the Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
In filing the case, Buraga said they have seven witnesses, two of whom are considered vital in identifying the three suspects who sexually molested and killed Ann-Ann.
“The 7-year-old girl (not the victim) and the adult witnesses have positively the three brothers. It took them a while to come out because they were afraid,” Buraga said.
The girl witness was traumatized that she can’t eat and was just staring blankly for days.
She was allegedly with Ann-Ann prior to the incident.
“Tinawag din siya ng mga suspects. Pero nakatakbo siya. Si Ann-Ann naman nahablot,” Buraga said.
Other witnesses have corroborating statements against the three suspects.
Roginald Agotera, a habal-habal driver, is now in police custody after he was arrested in a police anti-illegal drugs operation on Jan 2 in Estancia.
But his two brothers have not been seen in Estancia after the incident.
“Malakas lang talaga ang loob ni Roginald kasi nga nagtutulak,” Buraga said.
But he believed that the three could have been under the influence of illegal drugs when the incident happened.
In a post-mortem examination conducted by Dr. West Edquilla, medico-legal officer of the Regional Forensic Unit (RFU) 6 based in Bacolod City, Ann-Ann was found to have been sexually molested by at least two persons.
The girl has at least three deep lacerations in her vagina.
The autopsy result also showed that the girl’s cause of death was an injury on her head after she was struck by a hard object. Her skull was fractured. The impact also caused her right eye to swell.
Ann-Ann’s body was found inside the concrete fence of a telecom tower at Barangay Gogo, just 100 meters away from their house.
