Cebuana wrongly accused in Italy, Nurse escapes through window, falls

CEBU, Philippines - The dream to have a stable job ended in a fight for her life.

 A Cebuana nurse now based in Italy jumped out of the window from her employer’s apartment after she heard that she was going to be killed. This came after she was wrongly accused by her employer of stealing jewelry from the apartment where she worked part-time as baby sitter.

Now, Rodelyn Ruales, 27, is recovering in a hospital in Italy after an operation on her spinal column. Her family prays that there is no serious damage and as of their last update, she could not move her legs.

Romeo Ruales, her father, shared in an interview with The FREEMAN the details of the incident as how his daughter shared it to them through phone.

Romeo, whose family has been residing in Lawaan, Talisay II, said that his daughter first worked in London as an assistant head in a nursing home. But because she only had a student visa, she decided to join her cousin in Italy where she would have a working visa.

After processing her working visa in Cebu last year, she flew to Italy last June 18, 2011.

But Romeo said that because of the recession, his daughter has been having a problem looking for a job as a nurse so she took part-time jobs.

It was only recently when she got a part time job as baby sitter for an Italian national. Romeo said that her daughter also had another Filipina co-worker in the house but at the time of the incident, it was only his daughter in the house.

As Rodelyn narrated to her family and to the Italian police investigators when she woke up in the hospital, someone went to the home of her employer and introduced herself as a sister of the owner of the house. Rhoda refused to let the visitor enter the apartment but later on was convinced by the woman that she was a sibling. After talking inside the apartment, Rhoda was invited for coffee and initially refused but again was convinced to step out of the house.

Romeo said that when her daughter returned to the apartment, she was surprised that the room of her employer where some things were stored was already open.

Rodelyn immediately called her cousin, who was her resident sponsor in Italy, and sought for advice on what to do. She was told to call her employer up and not leave the apartment so she will not be accused.

In good faith, Rodelyn called her employer and was told to wait in the apartment while she was on her way. Rodelyn was interrogated by her employer and was told that whether she admitted to the theft or not, it would be proven by CCTV cameras.

Romeo said that his daughter felt relieved that there were CCTV cameras to support her claim that she was not involved in the crime. She also offered to call the policemen to help in the investigation.

She was told by her employer that she will call the police. Her employer then got the CCTV tapes and brought it with her. Romeo said that her daughter was also expecting that she will be invited to check on the tapes. But she was surprised when her employer locked her up in the room.

Her daughter then heard her employer talking to someone and saying that they will kill her.

Out of fright, Rodelyn got a blanket and used it to climb down the window from the third floor down to the first floor.

“It pains us to hear reports that my daughter jumped out of the window because she was scared to be imprisoned. She was innocent and she proved that by waiting for her employer to get back and was willing to answer all the questions. It was when she heard that she will be killed when she thought of jumping out of the window. It was her life. Anyone in her position, despite being innocent, would also be scared.”

But in her attempt to save her life, Rodelyn fell from the building and was found unconscious by passersby who called the ambulance.

Romeo said that while Rhoda was being interrogated by her employer, she was also updating her cousin through text messages. Her last text to her cousin was that they will be calling the police to help with the interrogation.

Romeo said that her daughter’s cousin went to the police station the day after, expecting that the police did the interrogation there. But the police allegedly would not let her see Rodelyn although they said she was in the interrogation room.

Rodelyn’s cousin went to the Philippine Embassy in Italy to seek assistance. It was the said office that called the police station and it was only then that they were told that Rodelyn was admitted at the hospital around 3 in the morning that day.

Rodelyn was in the intensive care unit for three days and was only able to tell police investigators what happened last September 19.

Romeo said that the latest confirmation they got from the embassy was that the Italian police believe that Rodelyn was innocent and was cleared from the charges. They also got confirmation from their daughter that she will be filing a case against her employer.  

Romeo said that he is processing his passport and Visa to fetch his daughter in Italy. He said that they have already communicated with the Philippine embassy in Manila for the process but they are hoping to knock on kind hearts for financial support since a reasonable amount will be needed to fly to Italy and back in Cebu with his daughter. Aside from that, he said that they are asking for more prayers for their daughter’s recovery.

Rodelyn, second of four siblings, graduated from the Cebu City Medical Center College of Nursing last 2007 and worked as a clinical instructor in a university here in Cebu.

—(FREEMAN)