This brutal story rivals the plots used in psychological thrillers.
“Jerome Rivera, 20, a reported member of the Sigue-Sigue Sputnik gang, was sentenced to six years in prison for the rape in 2011—but his sentence was cut short to two years after his application for probation was approved,” reports Aie Balagtas See in The Philippine Star.
After he was released, Rivera’s first order of business was to go home to Tondo and look for his alleged rape victim’s brother. On February 15, he saw his target, who was a pedicab driver, and shot him in broad daylight.
Rivera escaped after killing the pedicab driver and remained a fugitive until Sunday, Feb 23, when someone spotted him watching an amateur singing contest in Tondo at around 10pm.
When Rivera was arressted, he told police, “Naghiganti ako, Pinakulong n’ya ako kahit hindi ko ni-rape ang kapatid n’ya. Nagbanta rin s’ya na papatayin n’ya ako kaya noong nakita ko s’ya, binaril ko s’ya ng apat na beses (I took revenge. He sent me to prison, even though I did not rape his sister. He also threatened to kill me, so when we met I shot him four times).”
Police recovered a .38 caliber revolver from Rivera.
