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[av_heading heading=’Did maltreatment kill girl in Dumaguete?’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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DUMAGUETE City – A mother of a seven-year-old girl who died of a brain tumor in November asked the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to autopsy her child on suspicion that the daughter was mauled by her father.
Medico-legal experts from the CHR-Manila, including Dr. Ludivino Lagat, arrived Tuesday, Dec. 6 to exhume the child’s body from the Everlasting Cemetery in Barangay Bagacay, said CHR-Negros Oriental special field investigator Jess Cañete.
The mother was hoping to find more evidence to support a criminal complaint against her husband, who retired as a Philippine Navy member in 2014.
Initial autopsy results showed irregularities on the back portion of the victim’s skull and blood clots and contusions consistent with being hit by a blunt object. Cañete said he will wait for the official autopsy results.
The father may face parricide charges aside from the child abuse charge the victim’s uncle filed against the former while the mother was in Kuwait, Cañete said.
Cañete said the mother has learned that her daughter was being physically and sexually abused, prompting her to go home and pursue the case.
One time the daughter told the mother through the chat app Viber that her father wanted to play “cat and dog” one night and punched her when she refused, said Cañete.
The father’s alleged maltreatment of the daughter happened Sept. 24, 25 and 26, records from the city police station showed.
This prompted the uncle, with the help of social workers, to take the daughter and put her in Casa Esperanza for almost a month.
The daughter was taken to a hospital on Nov. 4. She died Nov. 9 and was buried by the 19th. She died of brain tumor, with acute bronchitis as “underlying cause,” a medical certificate showed.
If warranted, Cañete hopes to file the case by the second week of January 2017, considering the nearing Christmas holidays. (PNA)
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