Bully victim’s parents still hope for more witnesses

THEY find it difficult to accept their son’s death but the parents of 7-year-old bully victim Joshua Veloso can do nothing but hope that more witnesses surface to testify against the underage perpetrators.

“If naa daghan nakakita, mosulti unta sila. Pero wala man, kay nahadlok man sila” (If there were witnesses, they should speak up. But they are unwilling because they are afraid),” said Joshua’s 31-year-old mother Alma Rocacolba.

Alma said the family’s lawyer Elmer Yuson told them that if there are no witnesses, they could no longer file a case.

The Lapu-Lapu City police considered Joshua’s case temporarily closed pending the emergence of more witnesses.

Alma said they needed the police records and witnesses to be able to coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

But she said police records indicate that Joshua’s drowning was an “accident.”

When Cebu Daily News visited Joshua’s house yesterday, Alma nursed her 5-month-old daughter and turned wistful while reminiscing about the time spent with Joshua.

Alma said they are just living in her sister-in-law’s house, Rosel Dual, since Joshua studied grade 1 in Buaya Elementary School last year.

She said Joshua was an affectionate son who would bring out the garbage every morning.

She said her only remembrance of Joshua is his clothes because she only has one photo left of Joshua saved on his aunt Dual’s cellphone.

Dual said police told them it was possible that Joshua slid off the waters after being chased by bullies.

“There was only was slipper seen floating in the waters. The other slipper was found a few meters away from the foot bridge,” Dual said.

Yuson said he was only waiting on Alma to send a written request to the NBI for an inquiry on the case.

Alma said she will just leave the fate of the perpetrators to God.

Last Feb. 29, Joshua drowned and died in the seawaters of barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City.

Two witnesses, one a 7-year-old boy, who claimed that they have seen a boy pushed Joshua in the sea, backed out.

The Lapu-Lapu City office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) questioned the Lapu-Lapu City police’s handling of the child witness.

They said they interrogated the child without the presence of a social worker. Correspondent Rhea Ruth V. Rosell