Video footages and testimonies of witnesses gathered by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) here have contradicted the allegations of the woman, a native of San Rafael, Bulacan.
A footage from the closed circuit television camera obtained from the Mexican Chicken Restaurant showed the alleged victim and her alleged rapist she identified only as “Mr. Lee,” having some drinks from midnight up to past 2 a.m last Monday. This conflicted with the woman’s statement to the police that she was gangraped by the Koreans at about 1 a.m.
In a statement before CIDG’s SPO4 Edon Yalung, witness Angela Ricafort said she was in the company of the woman, whom the police asked to be identified only as “Tiffany” for the sake of her child, and Mr. Lee at the time the gang rape allegedly happened. She denied any rape occurred.
In her statement, Ricafort said she and her Korean boyfriend were fetched by Mr. Lee at about 11:45 p.m. last Sunday, after the latter complained that Tiffany, whom he had met only earlier through the internet WeChat social network, turned out to be boring.
This reportedly after Mr. Lee and Tiffany earlier spent time at the Hilltop Hotel.
Ricafort said she and her boyfriend joined Tiffany in the car driven by Mr. Lee. She said Tiffany, whom she had not known previously, complained of pain in her foot and related this was because a cigarette she was smoking fell into her boots. This apparently later caused a blister noted in a medical report in a hospital where Tiffany was to claim she was raped.
Ricafort said she and her companions stayed at the Mexican restaurant up to 2 a.m. last Monday and that all four of them proceeded to Bada restaurant for some drinks up to 3 a.m.
She said that they later proceeded to Prince Hotel where Mr. Lee and Tiffany checked into a separate room beside Room 101 which she and her boyfriend occupied.
A video footage obtained by CIDG from Prince Hotel showed the four of them checking in at the hotel lobby.
Ricafort also related that at 8 a.m. she and her boyfriend saw Mr. Lee who said Tiffany left early after he gave her P1,000.
She also said she heard no commotion from the room occupied by Mr. Lee and Tiffany in the hotel.
Ricafort said she was surprised later by the claim of Tiffany that she was gang-raped. Tiffany, in her statement to the police Monday, said Mr. Lee threatened to harm her and, after allegedly blindfolding her, and took her to an unknown place where seven other Korean men raped her at about 1 a.m.
Shin Kyong Seo, consul assistant and police attache of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, arrived here to inspect the video footages and witness the testimonies of witnesses who all debunked Tiffany’s claim.
The Korean Community Association-Central Luzon Inc. (KCA-CL) based here expressed concern over the case, as its officers appealed to media “to set the record straight” as they expressed fears that, otherwise, the “wrong version of what really happened might sour the relationship between Filipinos and Koreans in the Philippines.”
There have been documented cases in this city wherein prostituted women, in connivance with erring members of the city police, extort from tourists here by accusing them of rape. In some instances, minors are used as decoys to build up cases against tourists who are lured to sex with them also for purposes of extortion.
