LOCAL police in Dalaguete town, Cebu arrested a 42-year-old man for allegedly raping his seven-year-old niece on Monday, April 18, 2022.Rodrigo (not his real name), a resident of Barangay Balud in the same town, was arrested based on a complaint filed by the mother of the victim, Niña (not her real name).Niña’s mother claimed she saw the suspect coming out of their house around 8:30 a.m. on Monday.The mother said Rodrigo was anxious and sweating when he came out of their house.Fearing that Rodrigo had harmed her daughter, the mother quietly went inside the house to check on her.When the mother found Niña in her room, she immediately asked her daughter what her uncle did to her.Niña eventually admitted to her mother that her uncle Rodrigo had sexually abused her.Around 3:20 p.m. Monday, the mother accompanied her daughter to the local police to report what Rodrigo did.Maj. Gilfred Baroman, chief of the Dalaguete Police Station, said he immediately ordered the personnel of their Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) to arrest the suspect.Rodrigo was arrested in Argao town Monday evening.The suspect denied the allegations when police interviewed him.He also accused his niece of making up the allegations against him.Baroman said Niña also disclosed to their WCPD investigators that she had been abused by her uncle multiple times but she never told her parents as the suspect threatened to hurt her.Baroman said they already charged Rodrigo for rape and child abuse on Wednesday, April 20, while Niña was brought to a public hospital in Cebu City for a medical examination to determine the extent of the abuse. (GPL / JKV)