After over a year in hiding, a 27-year-old man who is wanted for allegedly raping an 85-year-old widow was arrested by police in Trinidad on Monday afternoon.

Raymon Monil, a farmer living in Barangay Kauswagan, Trinidad, was apprehended by police by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Azucena Credo of the Regional Trial Court Branch 101 in Talibon after he was spotted in the adjacent village of Poblacion at past 2 p.m., said Staff Sgt. Marie Anne Demetria of the Trinidad Police Station’s Women’s and Children’s Protection Desk.

According to Demetria, Monil fled Trinidad right after the alleged rape incident in December, 2018 and was only seen again in the town recently.

The victim, who is now aged 87, expressed elation over the arrest as her alleged attacker will now be facing justice.

Demetria said that the rape incident happened at the house of the victim who was then living alone in Trinidad.

Both the victim and suspect, who was noted to be drunk during the incident, know each other. The two had a casual conversation before he allegedly beat up the elderly woman then raped her.

“Ga storya-storya pa to sila ‘nya mi ana kalit ang [suspect] na si lola ra kunoy makasulbad sa iyahang panginahanglan niadtong gabiuna,” she said.

The victim sustained multiple injuries including bruises across her body.

According to Demetria, the victim has since been living with her children after the incident as she was advised by the police not to live alone. (A. Doydora)