A tricycle driver allegedly raped a mentally-challenged teenager at dawn Sunday behind a Catholic church in a barangay in Bacolod City that was witnessed by his friends, the police said yesterday.

Accompanied by her mother, the complainant, 18, whose name the police withheld, reported the incident to the Bacolod City Police Women and Children’s Complaints Desk Sunday night.

The victim’s mother said she left her daughter at about 11 p.m. Saturday at the house of their family friend as she had to go to work. Their family friend noticed her daughter gone minutes later but did not bother to look for her, assuming that she went home, the mother added.

At about 2 a.m., the daughter returned to their family friend’s house without her brassier and claimed that a man sexually assaulted her, the mother said.

Initial investigation showed that the suspect, who was later identified as “alias Nonoy”, was having drinks with his friends at a store when the victim passed by and he invited her to join them.

The victim claimed the suspect then brought her behind a church and raped her, while his friends watched them.

WCCD head, Insp. Jovy Cabcaban, said they advised the victim’s mother to have her daughter undergo a medical examination.

Under the law, although the victim has reached legal age, she is still considered a minor since she is mentally-challenged, Cabcaban said.

The victim and her mother had not returned to the WCCD as of press time.

Cabcaban also explained that they could not arrest the suspect because the reglementary period of the alleged rape already lapsed.*APN

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