Gang-raped nurse half-paralyzed due to head injuries

KIDAPAWAN CITY – Due to severe head injuries, the 21-year-old volunteer nurse who was gang-raped in a remote town in Maguindanao province last month has become half-paralyzed, a provincial health official said. Dr. Tahir Sulaik said the severe head injuries sustained by the victim when she was raped by at least 10 men resulted in the immobility of half of her body. Sulaik explained that trauma with nerve injury in the head may lead to permanent paralysis. The victim, however, is conscious, according to the hospital staff of the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center in Cotabato City where she is being treated since September 26 after she was found naked and unconscious in a cornfield in Barangay Timanan, South Upi town. As this developed, the mother of one of the six suspects arrested last Tuesday cried foul over the detention of her son, which she said was illegal. “He was just invited to shed light on the case. Why would the police detain him? My son and his friends had just helped the girl get to the hospital. We were surprised because the police told us our son is among the suspects," said the mother.

She added four of the “real" suspects in the gang-rape, one of whom was scion of a rich and influential family in South Upi, are under the custody of one of the politicians in town. “Where’s justice here? They picked the wrong persons just to tell to everyone that the gang-rape has been solved," the mother lamented. Meanwhile, members of the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) said they will be wearing black armbands for a week to condemn the gang-rape of their colleague. In a “24 Oras Weekend" report, PNA president Dr. Teresita Barcelo said the symbolic condemnation will start on Monday, while other activities, such as the Walk for Justice, are underway. Barcelo said she will likewise visit the victim to personally give her the financial aid that the group was able to raise. The PNA has likewise set up a bank account for donations for the victim. Meanwhile, Sulaik said he has already prepared the victim’s honorarium for her six-month contract with the government as volunteer nurse for the South Upi Municipal Hospital. Last week, Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) executive secretary Naguib Sinarimbo handed over to the victim's family some P64,000 in financial assistance, donated by regional officials and employees of ARMM. - with Jerrie Abella/KBK, GMANews.TV