Missing 9-year-old girl found injured

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Police are probing why the nine-year-old girl ended up in a vacant lot at City Heights Subdivision, Barangay Taculing here last Saturday, a day after she reportedly went missing from their house in Barangay Banago here.

Police Major Leo Estopa, head of Police Station 6, said the victim, whose name was withheld, was found with injuries in the head and eyes about 12 hours after she was reportedly abandoned by 32-year-old Sherwin Trava around 3 a.m. last Saturday.

The victim was located after Trava, a resident of Bago City, Negros Occidental, surrendered to the police in the city Saturday afternoon.

“Unconscious ang bata pag kakita sa iya sang kapulisan pero may signs of life pa, intact man ang clothes niya,” Estopa said.

The victim was then taken to Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital here.

Estopa said the child went missing when Trava allegedly invited her to go with him to buy food when he visited their house last Friday.

The victim went with him since her father knew him, Estopa added.

But Trava said in a media interview that he ended up seeing his girlfriend allegedly entering a lodging house in Barangay Taculing, which irked him.

“Daw sa bata niya dayon gin-pagwa kainit niya siguro,” Estopa said.

Estopa said Trava allegedly hit the victim with a rock three times and fled, but he claimed that he did not sexually abuse the child.

Estopa said the police will request medical examination on the victim.

Aside from that, Estopa also said that they want to know why the pair went to Barangay Taculing.

“Ngaa didto sila kalab-ot kag gin bilin ang bata?,” he asked.

Trava, who is detained at Police Station 6, asked for forgiveness from the victim’s family for what happened.

“Patawara niyo ko, indi ko gid gusto ang natabo, naghinulsol gid ko katama. Tani mapatawad niyo ko,” Trava said over an interview with Aksyon Radyo Bacolod.

“Nagsungka gid ko kay gusto ko pangayuan patawad ang akon ginhimo nga sala,” an emotional Trava said.

Meanwhile, the victim’s family is determined to pursue the filing of case against the suspect.