THE 15-year-old younger brother of Simeon Gabutero admitted in a sworn statement that he was the one captured on CCTV who rode a motorcycle driven by his older brother on the night of July 16, 2023 on their way to Sitio Mohon in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City to throw a cardboard box containing Rhea Mae’s body there.
Rhea Mae was found dead along the roadside of Sitio Mohon morning of the following day, July 17, 2023.
The CCTV camera recordings and other evidences found inside Gabutero’s rented room in Sitio Sampaguita Banawa in Barangay Guadalupe coincided with the minor’s statement, according to Police Major Angelito Valleser, the head of the Labangon Police Station.
The child made an extrajudicial confession around 3 p.m. on Wednesday, August 16. It was recorded by the Labangon police and witnessed by the representatives of Commission on Human Rights and a lawyer from the Cebu City Prosecutors Office.
The murder case against the suspect will be filed in court once all the necessary documents are ready, according to Cebu City Police Office Chief Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog.
“Once nga ma file na nato ang kaso ma consider na nato nga solve ug sarado na ang kaso (Once the case is filed, it is considered solved and closed),” Dalogdog said.
The father of the victim, Romeo Tocmo, signed an affidavit and praised the Cebu City police for solving the death of his daughter.
After seeing all the evidence and hearing an explanation from Major Valleser, Rhea Mae’s sisters, Rotche Tocmo Poblacion and Grace Tocmo Alad-ad, were convinced that Gabutero was the one who killed their younger sister.
Dalogdog thanked the Tocmo family for trusting them.
Dalogdog was confident that their evidence, which included CCTV footage and DNA findings that matched Gabutero and the victim’s cellphone sold by the suspect in downtown Cebu City, was solid.
The neighbor of Gabutero also stated in an affidavit that he saw the suspect on July 17, 2023, with several nail scratches on his arm.
His claim coincided with the PNP Forensic Unit’s theory that Rhea Mae was able to hold onto the suspect’s arm when he strangled her; and that this is why a sample of her fingernail had matched Gabutero’s DNA test. (With TPT)
