Medico legal officer: One massacre victim was sexually abused 12/10/2010

Medico legal officer: One massacre victim was sexually abused

12/10/2010

A medico legal officer who conducted an autopsy on a dozen victims of the Maguindanao massacre said that one of the female victims might have been sexually abused.

Chief Insp. Dean Caparas Cabrera, medico-legal officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory, disclosed his findings when he resumed his testimony into the results of the autopsy on the victims during Wednesday’s hearing at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig city.

“There is definite evidence of sexual abuse or sexual contact,” he said of the autopsy results of Rahima Palawan, among the 57 civilians slaughtered by armed men on the morning of Nov. 23, 2009.

Cabrera explained that for medico legal officers such as him to determine the “occurrence of sexual abuse,” one takes into account three factors such as a corroborating statement from a witness or the victim herself; the presence of genital injuries during the exam; and the existence of semenal fluid in the victim’s vaginal canal.

“There is definite evidence of sexual abuse or contact on the victim,” the witness said at the afternoon hearing.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20101210nat4.html