Polish lawyer says rape claim invented after he refused to give woman money

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Mr Horbaczewski is behind bars after being accused of rape, a charge he denies

A Polish tourist has denied raping a 27-year-old woman at a Cebu hotel — saying she set him up after he refused to give her money.

Jerzy Krzysztof Horbaczewski, aged 59, is accused of attacking the unnamed woman at about 3am in his room at the Mango Park Hotel.

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Speaking from his cell, Mr Horbaczewski, a lawyer on vacation in the Philippines, emphatically denied the charges.

He described how he had spent the previous night with the woman when they had kissed, but not had sex. When she left he gave her 500 pesos for transport.

The next evening, at the time of the alleged rape, she appeared again at the hotel. “At about 3am I heard somebody knocking on my door,” he said. “She was there with another girl. I was very sleepy, so I sent the other girl away and said she could stay. But there was no sex, no contact to touching.

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A room at the Mango Park Hotel, scene of the alleged crime

“In the morning she asked me for money, and I said ‘money for what?’ She replied that she needed it for transport, so I said ‘it’s not my problem, I gave you 500 yesterday’.




“She then asked to use my phone to call a friend to pick her up. I said ‘ok’ and she made three or four calls speaking in Tagalog. When I asked her who she was talking to, she said ‘the police’.

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“When I asked why, she said that it was because I didn’t give her money.”

Apparently not taking her threat seriously, Mr Horbaczewski went to have breakfast before returning to his room alone. At 10am police arrived and arrested him for rape.

“I was in shock. She came into my room and wanted sex for money but I didn’t want that. If I wanted a girl I could go to Mango Square and find a prostitute. Why should I rape someone?”

An account of the arrest by Supt. Joel Doria, of Cebu City Police Office, differs from Mr Horbaczewski’s version. He gives the time of arrest as 11am, saying that the suspect ran away and was caught after a “hot pursuit operation”.

Mr Horbaczewski is currently being detained at the Tourist Police Unit of the Cebu City Police Office.

He has been in touch with his embassy and also a friend from nearby Mandaue City, who was due to visit him today.




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