“I apologize (to her family), it was not my intention to kill her”.

This was what suspect Joshua Espartero, 22, of Hacienda Mimi in Brgy. 10, Victorias City, Negros Occidental, said yesterday after being tagged in the killing and attempted rape of his own cousin Renia Joy Guasa, 14.

In an interview with ABS-CBN, Espartero said he struck his cousin’s head with a stone, but did not intend to kill her.

However, Guasa’s mother Merlinda said an apology is not enough because what Espartero did to her daughter is unforgivable.

Guasa was found with her shorts and underwear pulled down to her knees, and her brassiere and blouse rolled up and already lifeless at a rice field about 300 meters away from her house at about 7 a.m. Wednesday.

An autopsy conducted on her showed that she had not been raped, but had died of asphyxiation and had also sustained head injuries, Victorias City police chief, Supt. Alexander Muñoz, said.

Espartero picked Guasa at her house 6 p.m. Tuesday so they could go together to the house of their uncle, Eleazar Gonzaga, which is about 600 meters away from their house, because he was leaving for Mindanao, investigation showed.

Espartero went home at about 10 p.m. Tuesday packed his things and told his mother that he had to leave, as he had killed one of their relatives.

He was arrested at about 4 p.m. Wednesday in at Hacienda Sta. Rita in Brgy. San Pablo in Manapla town, where he was hiding in the house of his aunt.

Charges for attempted rape with homicide were filed against Espartero at the Victorias City Prosecutor’s Office yesterday.*APN

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