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Friday, February 10, 2006
Ecleo insists: No proof that body was Alona’s
RUBEN Ecleo Jr. continues to doubt that the body found in Dalaguete, Cebu was that of his wife Alona Bacolod.
Ecleo is accused of killing his wife on Jan. 5, 2002. Her body was found dumped beside a road in Dalaguete three days later.
In a 55-page opposition and comment to the prosecution’s formal offer of exhibits, Ecleo objected to most of the evidence.
The defense called the report of former police medico-legal officer Dr. Nestor Sator “baseless, immaterial, unreliable, highly irregular and procedurally flawed.”
The report was offered to prove that Alona died of strangulation.
“Even if the cause of death of the cadaver has been established, the same is still baseless, as it has not yet been proven that the body autopsied was that of Alona, and immaterial as there is no eyewitness to the alleged act of killing,” the opposition read.
The defense also called Sator’s report “inconclusive,” after the doctor’s admission that the body had been partially embalmed when examined. The embalming fluid may have rendered the tissue and blood unfit for analysis.
Ecleo also objected to the presentation of a doormat, allegedly taken from his residence, with bloodstains. This was offered by the prosecution to prove there was a struggle prior to Alona’s death.
“The said doormat was not submitted for examination to determine the presence of human blood. Worse, the said doormat was not identified by the person who allegedly recovered the same from the residence of the accused,” Ecleo’s opposition read.
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The prosecution also offered as evidence the clothes on the cadaver, including a pink blouse, denim pants and panty.
But the defense said there was no proof, testimonial or otherwise, to attest that Alona wore these items at the time of her death.
The defense posed the same objection to the jewelry that allegedly belong to Alona.
For failing to present the original copy of Alona’s voting registration before the Commission on Elections, the defense also opposed the presentation of such as evidence.
The fingerprint on the voting registration could have been compared with the fingerprint taken from the cadaver.
Last year, the court granted the prosecution’s motion to exhume the body for DNA tests. Samples from the body’s femur were compared with those taken from the Bacolod siblings.
However, the results of these tests have yet to be presented in court. (JGA)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 10, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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