Defense lawyer withdraws petition for bail as task force looks at other angles

Thursday, February 24, 2011

SAYING he is “100 percent sure” that the charges against Norwegian Sven Erik Berger and his Cebuana fiancée will be dismissed, lawyer Salvador Solima withdrew yesterday the petition to fix bail for his clients.

The task force created by the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, on the other hand, is pursuing other leads in the killing of six-year-old Ellah Joy Pique.

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Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador Jr., task force spokesperson, said the leads “may not necessarily lead to the same suspects,” referring to Berger and fiancee Karen Esdrelon.

As this developed, Solima told news reporters after a court hearing yesterday that the defense will no longer pursue the petition to fix bail.

Citing an earlier statement of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, also head of the anti-crime task force in the province, and the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation, the lawyer said there is “no case” against Berger and Esdrelon.

Witnesses

But prosecution lawyer Roque Amante Jr. said evidence against the couple is strong.

He told news reporters that positive identification by witnesses can withstand the “alibi” and “mere denial” of the accused.

He said the resignation of Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) Director Erson Digal will not affect the case.

“These are a matter of facts. It is the court that should determine (the guilt of the accused) and not the prosecutor,” said Amante.

Digal resigned after being told by the governor that she has “lost trust and confidence” in him. Garcia got irked that Digal reportedly withheld information from her about the progress in the CPPO’s investigation on the Pique case.

Charges

Solima said his clients are contemplating to file criminal and administrative charges against Digal. But he said the couple is focusing on their immediate release from police detention.

The couple has asked the provincial prosecutor to dismiss outright the charges against them.

The PRO 7 task force, said Commendador, cannot verify the other leads it received about the Pique case if the provincial prosecutor will not dismiss the charges against Berger and Esdrelon.

If the prosecutor’s office finds probable cause and decides to elevate the complaint to the court, the PRO 7 will be forced to defer the investigation, said Commendador.

Support

When asked if “positive identification” of witnesses will hold water in court, Comendador said “positive identification can be one of the bases to hold a person for investigation; but in filing the case, it should be supported by evidence.”

In investigating a crime, he said investigators should be able to establish the motive of perpetrators, the opportunity to commit the crime, as well as other leads.

In the Pique case, Comendador admitted that the police only have the identification by the witnesses as evidence.

While he did not say the police’s case against Berger and Esdrelon is weak, Co-mendador said there is a need for more evidence to support the claims of child-witnesses.

Berger and Esdrelon had said it was “impossible” for them to commit the crime in Minglanilla in the afternoon of Feb. 8, because they were in Cebu City.

The NBI got photos from a security camera, showing the couple’s whereabouts at a hotel in Cebu City in the afternoon of Feb. 8.

Amante said the child-witnesses, who identified the couple as the ones who were last seen with Pique, had no motive to lie.