Thursday, April 24, 2008 Woman seeks DOJ’s protection in case over husband’s killing
A WOMAN has sought the help of the Department of Justice over the murder of her husband and the complaint she filed against three people.
Bernadetha Inocencio-Carcasona, 38, said police in Argao town released two of the three suspects even before formal charges could be filed because one of them owned up to everything.
She also alleged that police omitted certain facts in the affidavit-complaint they prepared out of the statement she gave.
She said the affidavit, submitted to the Office of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor, even neglected to mention how she was stabbed by the two suspects the police let go before they allegedly ganged up on her husband, Michael Carcasona, and killed him.
Now, the two suspects who were released are threatening her with harm unless she backs off from the case. Bernadetha has also asked the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas for help.
Barangay officials
She complained that the barangay captain of Talaga, Argao, Cebu, together with at least two barangay councilors, saw the killing but have refused to submit an affidavit to support her statement.
She also sought the help of the Crusade Against Violence-Visayas, adding that nobody in their barangay offered support even though her husband, a barangay tanod, served to keep the peace in the area for a long time.
In an interview, Bernadetha said the killing happened at around 7 a.m. last March 13.
She said she was cleaning their yard when two of the three suspects – Balbina Lastimosa and Marife Lastimosa-Tahir – came up to her and stabbed her from behind.
She said she got hit in the back but was still able to run a few meters away to where her husband, Michael, was. Lastimosa and Tahir, who she said was also carrying a gun, chased her.
She said her husband, who didn’t see the stabbing, ran to meet her but the third suspect, Roldan Lastimosa, arrived and stopped him by hitting him in the head with a large piece of wood.
She said she tried to help her husband, her own stab wounds notwithstanding, but Lastimosa pulled him from her and gave suspect Roldan space to stab Michael repeatedly with a knife.
Injuries
She said she tried to lie on top of her husband to prevent him from getting stabbed but Roldan simply repositioned his thrusts and continued stabbing. She said she got hit in the arm.
Bernadetha said she ran away when Roldan got the gun Tahir was holding and pointed it towards Michael. She said Michael gasped and told her to run, which she did.
It was the only reason, she said during the interview, that she remains alive.
She said she learned that police arrived and arrested all three later.
She, in turn, was brought to the hospital by relatives for the stab wounds she got. A medical report from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, signed by Dr. Philipps Leo Arias, indicated that she got hit in the left and right infrascapular area and the right flank midscapular.
The report also indicated that the wound perforated her intestines and caused renal injury.
She was admitted the day of the attack and was discharged last March 24.
By that time, the police had released Lastimosa and Tahir. Only Roldan remained in custody for the filing of a case. (KNR)
