Thursday, July 24, 2008 Ex-lover of wife sued over Briton’s murder
A NON-bailable case for murder was filed yesterday against a shop worker who allegedly shot and killed a Briton in Minglanilla last month.
This after Jude Bullacer Dayota failed to submit a counter-affidavit and instead submitted a motion to withdraw his waiver of detention so the charge against him would be immediately elevated to the Regional Trial Court (RTC), where he intends to make his defense.
“After a thorough evaluation of the evidence at hand, undersigned finds that there is sufficient grounds to engender a well-founded belief that Dayota is probably guilty thereof and should be held fore trial,” read the resolution prepared by Prosecutor Marvin de la Peña.
But, only Dayota will stand trial for the death of Luke Isaacs, 42.
While charged with two unnamed accomplices, de la Peña said the proceedings should be separate and will commence when the police formally implicates them by making their identities known.
‘Uncooperative’
Isaacs was shot repeatedly until he died last June 24 at around 6:40 p.m. while walking along a segment of the national highway in Barangay Lipata, Minglanilla with his wife Riza.
Riza, answering questions from the police, said an unidentified man first tried to grab the billfold that Isaacs wore with a string around his neck and, when he resisted, pulled out a gun and fired. The man then ran toward a waiting motorcycle and fled.
As the investigation went deeper, however, police were able to confirm from the testimony of witnesses that no struggle happened between Isaacs and his attacker.
Moreover, the billfold remained with Isaacs even after he was shot. If stealing the billfold was the motive for the shooting, police investigators speculated, then the shooter should have taken it after Isaacs fell.
The police also noticed that Riza wasn’t cooperative with investigators. She did not, for example, allow the police to check out the cellular phone she and her husband
used.
Doubt
SPO4 Ernesto Navales of the Minglanilla Police Station, in an affidavit, said this made him look toward the woman.
The first bit of information they uncovered, he said, is that the woman co-made a loan a certain Jude Dayota took on a motorcycle that, later on, got repossessed because he wasn’t able to keep up with the payment.
Further verification led the police to the knowledge that Riza and Dayota used to be lovers before Isaacs came into her life.
But it was the security guard of the store where the two took a loan on the motorcycle, Crisanto Arante, who gave the police their first solid break.
Arante, as it turned out, was present when the shooting took place. He was on-board a jeepney on the way to the town plaza to meet a girl and passed by the spot where Isaacs was shot when the first shot rang.
It was he who identified Dayota as the shooter, adding that he recognized him from the transaction involving the motorcycle. (KNR)
