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Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Fiscal notes inconsistency in rape-slay witness’ account
Maximo and Concordio Laputan yesterday pleaded not guilty to the accusation that they raped and killed 14-year-old Maylen Laputan, Maximo’s daughter and Concordio’s niece, in Carcar, Cebu last September.
The two were taken to Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Raphael Yrastorza’s sala, where a motion to dismiss, filed by their government-provided lawyer, remains pending.
Yesterday’s arraignment formally begins the hearing on the case that was filed almost five months ago.
Ronnie Tabora, who pointed to his cousins Maximo and Concordio as the perpetrators, took the stand after the arraignment and narrated how the alleged rape and murder was carried out.
But Tabora might soon join, if not replace, Maximo and Concordio as accused in the case.
Flashlight
Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Luis Calderon, in his direct-examination of Tabora, for example, asked why he did not do anything to prevent the crime, after admitting in court that he was present at the scene in the evening of Sept. 6, 2005.
And when Tabora reasoned that he was afraid, Calderon asked why he didn’t run away when, in his affidavit, he admitted to standing a few meters away from the duo, holding a flashlight, while the rape was being carried out.
“You said Concordio was holding the victim’s hands while Maximo was raping her. That means you were not being held at that time,” Calderon said.
Yrastorza had to cut the prosecutor off and appoint a counsel de officio for Tabora, fearing that he might unwittingly incriminate himself.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) already wants Tabora impleaded as a co-accused after he, in an interview with a CHR fact-finding team, admitted to taking part in the rape.
Tabora, in his statement, did not take back his previous allegation that Maximo and Concordio raped the girl.
Earlier, he said he only held the flashlight for the two. But later he admitted that he also took part in the rape.
Missing, dead
Aside from Tabora’s sworn statement, the CHR fact-finding team, who went to Carcar last Oct. 28, also got the affidavits of four other people and an olive knapsack that contained two shirts with stains, an ice pick and a wallet with Tabora’s photos and pieces of tin foil.
Maylen was found dead in a cornfield in Sitio Kamangkamang, Barangay Ocaña, Carcar, Cebu, last Sept. 8. She’d been missing for two days when her mutilated body was found.
The police charged her father and uncle with parricide four days later. The charges were based on Tabora’s statement. Tabora simply walked into the Carcar PNP office and offered his testimony.
In his first sworn statement, Tabora said the Laputan brothers, his cousins, snatched, stabbed and raped Maylen on the night of her disappearance.
In his testimony then, Tabora said he was acting as caretaker of Concordio’s house and stayed there the whole day of Sept. 6.
That night, despite the rain, Maximo and Concordio, after a bout of heavy drinking, asked him to accompany them outside the house where they met Maylen on the way.
Maximo grabbed his daughter. She cried for help, but her father allegedly covered her mouth.
Tabora said he saw Concordio stab Maylen and help Maximo carry the girl to the cornfield where they allegedly took turns raping her.
In his second affidavit, however, Tabora admitted to raping with Maylen, after his cousins were done with her.
He said after the rape, they took her body home, sliced a part of her breast and cooked it with cabbage. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 7, 2006 issue)
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