Dumpit wants out of city jail

THE lawyer of jailed police officer Adonis Dumpit yesterday filed an urgent motion to have him transferred to a “safer” prison facility.

Pedro Leslie Salva asked Regional Trial Court Branch 6 Judge Ester Veloso to grant their pleading “in the highest interest of justice and fair play.”

“…The environment indeed is not only hostile to the accused but the actuations shown by inmates at the BBRC (Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center) are too much to be ignored and taken for granted,” Salva wrote in their six-page motion.

He said police officers who escorted Dumpit to the city jail witnessed how the inmates there “showed their anger at and hatred for” Dumpit.

“They (city jail inmates) seem to be hungry vampires ready to suck every bit of blood out of the accused,” the motion read.

Salva said jail management also could not guarantee his client’s safety.

‘Weak evidence’

“No less than the warden (of the BBRC) made his observation and forwarded his report to the honorable court again, stressing the fact that, based on his actual evaluation, he could not guarantee for the safety of accused,” Salva said.

Salva also asked Veloso to resolve their motion for bail. He earlier argued that the evidence against Dumpit is “inherently weak.”

Last Monday, Veloso ordered the transfer of Dumpit from his cell at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 headquarters to the Cebu City Jail.

Veloso granted the motion to transfer Dumpit last March 7 after Janeth Badana, the mother of slain robbery suspect Ronron Go whom Dumpit allegedly shot in 2002, took several pictures of Dumpit allegedly using a mobile phone with built-in camera outside his detention cell at the CIDG.

Flight-risk

In seeking Dumpit’s transfer, the prosecution said the CIDG’s failure to “properly secure” Dumpit confirmed their fears that the police officer was a flight-risk.

Citing personal and professional ties of the accused with the agency’s personnel, the prosecution said the CIDG could not be entrusted to properly secure Dumpit.

The judge noted in her order that Dumpit was allowed to stay at the CIDG “precisely because of the assurance that he would not be granted any special treatment.”