A SEVEN-year-old girl was raped and murdered in the Philippines while her mum was out buying her Christmas presents.
Pia Grace Roberto was last seen singing Christmas carols in the Cavite province on Boxing Day.
Tragically her body was found naked and dumped on a riverbank the following day.
On December 26 she had asked her mum, Precy, to buy her some new clothes from the money she was given as a gift from relatives.
Little Pia was left alone with her siblings at the family home.
Precy started to worry after returning from the market to find her daughter was not home.
The girl’s dad, Florentino, frantically searched for Pia, despite being past a curfew time imposed during the pandemic.
Tragically, he found her under a deep ravine five hours later on December 27 around 1 am.
The devastated dad called the police and paramedics, who arrived at the apparent crime scene to take her body to the hospital for post-mortem examination.
Medics claimed she died from blunt force trauma in the head and chest, with four stab wounds at the back of her neck and spine.
There were also reportedly signs she had been raped.
Carmona Police Station officers questioned people who last saw the girl and found two witnesses who pointed a 22-year-old neighbour Michael Dela Cruz.
The witnesses allegedly saw Michael with the girl around the time she disappeared.
Michael was arrested and is now under police custody, but he pleaded not guilty.
He said: "Those people who pointed me are lying. They are just mad at me because of a land dispute. I will fight for what is true."
The police are still investigating the case while the grieving family prepared a funeral for the girl before she was buried on January 3 morning.
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