Van driver pleads not guilty in robbery, rape of QC riders

The driver of a passenger van accused of raping and robbing female passengers last year pleaded not guilty in his arraignment before a Quezon City court on Thursday.

More than a year after his alleged crime, Wilfredo Lorenzo maintained his innocence before Judge Evangeline Castillo-Marigomen of QC Regional Trial Court Branch 101.

Lorenzo, who has since been detained at the city jail, was charged with the robbery and rape of two female passengers on the night of June 10, 2016.

According to case records, the victims boarded a Toyota Hi-Ace Grandia bound for SM Fairview and driven by Lorenzo at Centris Mall along Edsa.

When they were the only two passengers left, the suspect—along with accomplice Alfie Turado—allegedly blindfolded, hogtied and robbed them of their phones and cash.

Lorenzo and Turado then allegedly took turns raping the women, aged 22 and 27, inside the moving vehicle for four hours, before leaving them in a parking lot in Barangay Sauyo, Novaliches.

Both suspects were arrested by the Quezon City police the following week.

Turado, however, ended up dead inside a police van, after he allegedly grabbed the gun of a police escort.

Since Lorenzo’s arrest, four more women have filed rape complaints against him, including one who said the accused got her pregnant. – Jhesset O. Enano