Cyprus Murder Case: Filipino woman speaks out, says murder suspect raped her two years ago

As Cyprus continues to boil over the recent revelation on the number of people murdered by a Greek Cypriot guard, the extent to the atrocities committed by the suspect is just beginning to see day light after a woman from the Philippines said she was raped around two years ago by the suspect.

The accused has been fingered in the murder of three women and another possible four people, including two little girls aged 9 and 6.

According to daily Politis the woman, who works as domestic helper in Cyprus has come forward to report that she was raped but was afraid to go to the police at the time.

She told the newspaper, she has been wracked by guilt after the murders came to light, for not coming forward sooner because some of the women might still be alive today.

The friend of the woman in question told media this week that the suspect had raped the woman in his car and later threatened her not to report him “because she would find herself in big trouble”.

A member of the Filipino community of Cyprus, Lisa  Jataas, who is also founder of the female migrant domestic workers’ association Obreras Empowered Female Domestic Workers, told Politis that the community, some 14,000 people, are deeply shocked by the murders.

Our hearts have broken, Jataas said.

She said that the Mary Rose Tiburcio,39,  the first victim whose body was found some two weeks ago, was a widow and had two older children back in the Philippines. She married again after arriving in Cyprus and had another child, six-year-old Sierra, who was reported missing along with her mother last May. Police are still searching for the girl’s body after the suspect , Nicos Metaxas, 35, reportedly told police she was also dead.

Jataas questioned why reports of the women's’ disappearances did not seem to have been thoroughly investigated.

No one deserves such a fate, she said, adding that this ought to be a wake-up call so that things will change.  Jataas called for better training of police officers dealing with reports on missing persons.

She said the community is now waiting for the investigations to be completed so that the bodies are sent to the victims’ families in the Philippines.

Edited from Cyprus Mail