CEBU, Philippines – The niece of a mayoralty candidate in Carcar City was taken hostage and allegedly raped by her boyfriend inside her family’s ancestral house last Monday evening.

The victim, Grace (not her real name), 25, a registered nurse, was rescued by the police from the hands of her boyfriend (name withheld pending the filing of formal charges) after four hours of hostage drama that started at 6 p.m.

Prior to the incident, Grace and her boyfriend allegedly had a heated argument while they were in the vehicle on the way to visit the ancestral house of the victim’s family. But the argument later turned violent when the suspect started slapping her.

The argument allegedly went on even if they already arrived at the house and went inside a room. The other occupants of the house allegedly noticed that the suspect already started beating Grace, hitting her in different parts of her body.

When the suspect noticed that the other persons in the house are already concerned, he allegedly grabbed a kitchen knife and pointed it to his girlfriend’s neck giving a warning: “Kung dunay mag-apil-apil patyon tika.” This alarmed the helpers and other occupants of the house prompting them to call the victim’s aunt, Valladolid barangay captain Mercy Apura, who is the wife of Carcar City vice mayor and now mayoralty candidate Nicepuro Apura.

The barangay chief, together with her barangay tanods immediately responded and negotiated with the suspect but he allegedly refused to release the victim. At around 8 p.m., the suspect still refused to let go of Grace even in the presence of Vice Mayor Apura.

The victim’s relatives were prompted to seek assistance from Insp. Socrates Medello, who came to the scene together with three police officers and negotiated with the suspect.

However, the suspect reportedly refused to cooperate with the police, who were forced to secretly penetrate the room to rescue the victim.

Medello acted as the negotiator to get the attention of the suspect while his companions slowly penetrated the area. They were able to destroy the door of the room to get inside.

The suspect, after seeing the police officers, tried to attack one of them but the other policemen kicked the suspect that made him fell to the floor. The three policemen then neutralized him by grabbing both of his hands and take the victim away from him.

At the police station, Grace claimed that during the hostage drama, her boyfriend allegedly raped her which prompted the police to subject her to a medical examination for verification.

The mother of the victim also told the police officers that prior to the incident her daughter and her boyfriend already had a misunderstanding.

Appropriate charges will be filed against the suspect who is now under the custody of the Carcar Police Station.   (FREEMAN NEWS)