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Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Trader files charge vs. Castro
Businesman Jake Yu, whose photograph Assistant City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro took from court files without permission, yesterday lodged a criminal complaint against the official for malicious mischief over the incident.
Hours later, Judge Rosabella Tormis of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) denied Castro’s motion for reconsideration on the court’s order finding her guilty of indirect contempt for filching the pictures.
In his criminal complaint, Yu alleged that because of the filching, among other incidents, he now suspects that Castro intends to harm him.
“It is every obvious that Castro was motivated by her evil intent to harm me when she stole, removed and detached my pictures...from the records of the criminal case and I have every reason to fear for my life,” Yu said in his affidavit.
Yu also alleged that his neighbors saw Castro last Aug. 10 riding on a motorcycle with two companions. The prosecutor reportedly kept pointing at their house.
Taking photos
He also said that on two occasions last February, Castro pointed to two men the gate of Yu’s residence, while another person was taking pictures of Yu’s house.
Yu said that court personnel saw Castro take his two photographs.
Castro maintains she only took one photo and immediately returned this after she had it photocopied last August 12.
The judge fined Castro with P5,000 for indirect contempt last Aug. 22 after finding her guilty of gross misconduct for filching the pictures.
Castro immediately asked the court to reconsider.
The judge denied Castro’s motion yesterday afternoon.
Lack of sincerity
“The motion lacks not only substance but also the lack of sincerity on the part of Prosecutor Castro, as she continues to defy the order of the Court to return the front view photo of the accused Jake Yu which she had surreptitiously detached from the records,” said Tormis in her latest order.
On Castro’s comment that the court “grievously erred” in fining her P5,000 when the rules clearly defined that the fine should not exceed P10, Tormis said Castro invoked the wrong rule.
Tormis cited Section 7 of Rule 71 of the Rules of Court that states: “If the respondent is adjudged guilty of contempt committed against a lower court, he may be punished by a fine not exceeding P5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding one month or both.”
“More than anyone else, Ms. Castro ought to know, being a public prosecutor and an officer of the court, that case records are not to be trampled with and her very act of detaching the photos from the records was an affront to the dignity of this office and the justice system itself,” the order read.
Castro said she will resort to “legal” remedies following Tormis’ denial.
She has 10 days to appeal the order.
As for her continued exchange of cases with the Yu brothers, Castro said she may heed the advice of Tormis, whom she talked with yesterday, to settle the matter.
In a phone interview with Sun.Star Cebu, she said she is willing to withdraw all cases she filed against the Yu brothers so long as they pay the damage of her car, which started the animosity between them.
“I will settle with the Yu brothers, buy peace at all cost,” she said, adding that she wants to end it for her children. (GN/JGA)
(August 31, 2005 issue)
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