On this day in 1999 Leo Echegaray received a lethal injection in what would become the first execution since 1976 in the Philippines.

Leo Echegaray, now 38, raped his girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter in 1994.

He was pronounced dead at 3:19 p.m. (0719 GMT), eight minutes after he was injected with lethal chemicals, Justice Secretary Serafin Cuevas told reporters after witnessing the execution.

Church bells pealed across the city at the time of the execution in what priests said was a prayer for his soul and disapproval of capital punishment.

Echegaray’s wife, Zenaida Javier, also among those watching the execution through a one-way mirror, screamed after her husband was declared dead and left the room sobbing, witnesses said.

Cuevas said Echegaray’s final words were: “Filipinos, forgive me for the sins they accuse me of. A Filipino killed by a fellow Filipino.”

“I hoped to see a sign of repentance from Echegaray,” Cuevas said. “It didn’t show.”

Television reports had previously said he had asked for forgiveness from his victim.

Two hours before Echegaray’s death the Supreme Court rejected a last appeal for a stay of execution, saying it found no merit in a petition alleging prison authorities had made unauthorized changes in the procedures for carrying out a death sentence.

President Joseph Estrada, who has

led the move to bring back capital punishment as a deterrent to violent crime, said Echegaray’s death would serve as a warning.

“Today’s execution is proof of the government’s determination to maintain law and order,” he said in a statement.

“In this administration, we will prove that crime does not pay. The crime committed by Mr Echegaray...(was) an act of bestiality, which deserves the stiffest punishment under the law.”

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