PRESS RELEASE: German accused of abusing kids committed suicide
A German national
accused of sexually abusing at least 13 children in connivance with some
parents in Puerto Galera committed suicide by taking an overdose of
tranquilizer after paying a bail bond of P200,000 for a crime that is
non-bailable.
Rainer Fahrenherst, 61,
died in his home in San Isidro, Puerto Galera and his body was brought
to Manila March 16. Rainer is one among three foreigners charged with
the abuse of at least 28 children. The suspects are Paul Jeffrey
Anderson, American, 55, still detained at the provincial jail in Calapan
City, and Reinhard Havecost, German, still at large.
The abuse was discovered
January 13 when a teacher noticed irregular behaviour from her two
students who told how they were sent by parents to sell trinkets to
foreigners on the beach and ended up being shown child pornographic
videos and taught to perform oral sex acts on the foreign sex tourists.
Filed the complaint. Municipal Social Worker Aily Cobbarubias received
the report the following day that revealed 11more children were abused.
They were mostly migrants from Mindanao and Romblon.
Local police apprehended
the two suspects on the same day and recovered a video camera and
personal computer containing pornographic files and videos with the
accused and the children in it. Other child porn pictures were believed
to be downloaded from the internet.
The police, however,
failed to immediately file the cases against the suspects despite strong
evidence raising suspicions that they and local politicians may be
covering up the case to protect the island's tourism industry. This
prompted non-government organizations and social welfare officials to
refer the case to the National Bureau of Investigation Office in Calapan
and the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development who have yet to rescue the majority of the victims.
After the case had been
filed in court, Fahrenherst's counsel filed a motion to pay bail. For
some reasons, this was not vigorously opposed by the prosecutor despite
the fact that the victims are under 12 years old making the crime
non-bailable.
A separate incident of
abuse was discovered January 27 when a Grade 2 pupil revealed to social
workers that Havecost had been sexually abusing her and other scholars
who he was supporting in school. Havecost fled after learning that a
complaint has been leveled against him. A hold departure order has been
issued against him.
The three children ages nine to 12 years old are now temporarily housed at the DSWD Bahay Tuluyan Center in Dasmarinas, Cavite while the many other victims remain in Puerto Galera due to non-cooperation of their parents and inaction by the social services department and police to take them into custody.
