Thursday, July 31, 2008 Crowd challenges suspects in grisly killing to show their faces By Katrina A. Balmaceda Sun.Star Correspondent
INDIGNATION showed on the faces of workers at the Palace of Justice yesterday upon the arrival of the trio who allegedly connived in killing and chopping two women in pieces.
Security guards, bondsmen, court workers and people on errands waited for the three all afternoon, after hearing that an information for double murder would be filed against them.
Richard Gudelosao, Joseph Roy Cellar and Jean Antonette Medalle arrived at the Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) past 4 p.m. yesterday.
Handcuffed and escorted by police, Gudelosao and Cellar covered their faces with T-shirts, while Medalle used a small, thin towel to shield her face.
A crowd of at least 20 people gathered around the trio, challenging them to show their faces.
“Nganong nagtakob man na sila (Why are they covering their faces)? Are they ashamed?” a court worker could not help saying loudly.
Even as police shielded the suspects, three girls, who were there on an errand, screamed and backed away as Gudelosao, Cellar and Medalle walked past.
The crowd thickened as police escorted the trio to RTC Executive Judge Fortunato de Gracia’s sala, where the judge signed the commitment order. Onlookers filled the room and spilled out onto the corridor.
There, a surprised de Gracia asked the three to take the veils off their faces.
Gudelosao and Medalle, who are live-in partners and have a three-year-old daughter, sat across each other in front of de Gracia’s desk, bowing their heads.
Cellar, who stood apart from the two, used a hand to shield his face from the crowd.
Even de Gracia could not help quipping, “Asa ang takob sa akong nawong? Aron balanced (Where’s my veil?).”
De Gracia signed the commitment order for the suspects, who where then brought to the Talisay City jail.
As the three left the judge’s sala, some people still followed, deriding them.
“Buhi pa mu do, tu-a na mo sa impyerno (You may be alive, but your souls are in hell),” a man told the three suspects as they left the Palace of Justice.
A hush then settled over the palace, and because office hours were about to end, the corridors were left empty, with workers and civilians returning to their offices to finish up their duties.
With criminal information for double murder filed against the three suspects yesterday, the case will be raffled off in court next Monday.
Lawyer Wendel Quiban assisted Gudelosao and Cellar when they executed their judicial confession last Tuesday before Talisay City Prosecutor Marshall Rubia.
Though Medalle only allegedly cleaned up the bloody mess made by Gudelosao and Cellar, Rubia included her in the criminal charge for double murder.
Gudelosao and Cellar executed affidavits admitting that they killed Eva Mae Peligro and Gwendolyn Balasta at their home in Azienda Firenze, Talisay City, past 3 p.m. last July 24.
They also admitted that at 1 a.m. on July 25, they chopped the two girls’ bodies into pieces inside the bathroom. While they did so, Medalle stayed in the same house, putting her daughter to sleep.
Peligro was the fiancé of Gudelosao’s younger brother. Balasta was Peligro’s cousin.
The victims and the suspects, except for Cellar, lived together in the same home and reportedly had a long-running conflict. Cellar, a friend of Gudelosao, was the caretaker of a neighboring house.
Gudelosao is 27 years old. Cellar is 22. While both admitted to the crime, parts of their narrations varied, like who between them strangled Peligro and Balasta.
Both, however, admitted to punching and tying the women up, and then chopping up their bodies with a single stainless steel knife, and throwing the parts along the Manipis road from Minglanilla to Toledo City.
They said they placed the body parts in at least 13 plastic bags.
In the death certificates, medico-legal officer Dr. Nestor Sator stated “asphyxia by strangulation” as the cause of death. (KAB)
