OFW slain in Kuwait was sexually abused, autopsy finds —Sec. Guevarra

The Filipina domestic worker who was slain allegedly by her own employers in Kuwait last December also suffered sexual abuse and had been battered weeks before her death, an autopsy has found.

The body of Jeanelyn Villavende was autopsied by the NBI in her hometown of Cotabato on January 10, shortly after her remains were returned to the Philippines.

In a message to reporters on Sunday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Villavende’s body had “clear indications of sexual abuse.”

“There were also old healed wounds indicating that Villavende had been battered weeks prior to the fateful incident,” he added.

A formal report will be submitted to Guevarra on Monday.

The initial autopsy of Villavende’s body conducted by a Kuwaiti hospital found that her heart and lungs failed due to “shock and multiple injuries vascular nervous system [sic].” 

Villavende was killed just five months after she left the Philippines to work in Kuwait. 

Last week, the Bureau of Immigration started implementing a partial deployment ban of newly-hired domestic workers to Kuwait following Villavende’s death. 

However, President Rodrigo Duterte has said he is not keen on implementing a ban. 

"The situation is quite different. We do not see apathy there. And the police authorities there in Kuwait acted swiftly, and they have arrested the spouses," he said in a television interview on Friday. —Julia Mari Ornedo/KG, GMA News