ROAD rage suspect David Lim Jr.’s plea seeking a preliminary investigation of his criminal cases is merely meant to delay his arraignment, the prosecution said.
Defense lawyer Mundlyn Martin asked the court to deny Lim’s omnibus motion to refer the case for preliminary investigation and to suspend proceedings.
Lim waived his right to preliminary investigation during the inquest proceedings, said Martin, counsel for complainant Ephraim Nuñal.
“Accused cannot feign ignorance thereafter making his decision and claims of injustice and cries foul that he was not afforded his right to the preliminary investigation,” read Nuñal’s pleading.
The court reset Lim’s arraignment of his frustrated homicide and possession of illegal ammunition cases in April.
This came after Lim’s lawyer filed an omnibus motion to refer the case for preliminary investigation and to suspend proceedings. “There is no question that the accused was not accorded his right to a preliminary investigation,” reads Lim’s pleading.
The defense counsel said that Lim is entitled to a preliminary investigation as part of his right to due process.
“The public prosecutor erroneously subjected the accused to inquest proceedings notwithstanding that there was no ‘lawful arrest without a warrant,’” the pleading added.
The defense said the trial court ought to refer the case to the City Prosecutor’s Office and suspend all the proceedings.
In the pleading, the prosecution said that Lim waived his right to preliminary investigation. On all stages of his case, Lim was accompanied by his counsel.
“Lim cannot anymore feign ignorance and shout injustice that his right to due process claiming that he failed to avail of his right to preliminary investigation,” the prosecution said.
Since Lim even filed a motion seeking permission to travel abroad, the prosecution said that such a move is merely a “dilatory tactic.”
“If allowed to travel abroad, and without being arraigned, then he can easily go free as if nothing had happened,” the pleading read.
The prosecution asked the court to deny Lim’s motions and to set his arraignment “without much more delay in the interest of justice.”
Lim, 28, shot Nuñal around 3 a.m. last March 19. The incident was caught on a car’s dashboard camera and went viral.
Lim, the nephew of Cebuano-Chinese businessman Peter Lim, whom President Rodrigo Duterte accused of being a drug lord, stepped out of detention after posting bail.
The bail amounted to P24,000 for the frustrated homicide case and P120,000 for the illegal possession of ammunition case.
Tamae Bacu Takahashi, Lim’s girlfriend, is also facing charges for violating Article 275 of the Revised Penal Code, or the abandonment of a person in danger.
Prosecutor Liceria Lofranco-Rabillas ruled that there was no “qualifying circumstance” for the case to be a frustrated murder, like treachery.
Judge Ricky Jones Macabaya is trying Lim’s frustrated homicide case while RTC Branch 9 Judge Alexander Acosta is handling the possession of illegal ammunition case.