DoJ reopens Orate slay probe; heirs cite ‘close-range gunshots’

The Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday began its reinvestigation of last month’s killing of Noel Orate at the house of his longtime girlfriend, former Quezon City Representative Nannette Castelo-Daza.

Doy Bringas, lawyer for Orate’s heirs, submitted documents supporting claims by the victim’s family that Noel’s death was premeditated and that the shooter, Daza’s son-in-law and Bulacan provincial board member Allan Robes, should have been charged with murder and not just homicide.

The documents included a medico legal report by forensics expert Dr. Raquel Fortun and the crime scene report of the police officers who responded to the shooting at Daza’s home on Maningning Street in Teachers Village-East, Quezon City, on February 10.

“These documents debunk their (Dazas’) claim of self-defense. Since (Orate) was shot at close range, it shows that it was premeditated,” Bringas told reporters.

The lawyer said both reports indicated that Noel’s corpse tested negative for gunpowder burns and that two of the five gunshot wounds he sustained were inflicted at a close range.

After the hearing, Fortun said her conclusion was that Orate “was already on the floor when he was shot two more times.”

“In our view, all five shots were shot at close range,” she said.

Robes, who had since posted bail after being initially charged with homicide, had claimed that Orate tried to hold members of the Daza household hostage when he barged in armed and drunk that night, prompting him to shoot Orate in self-defense.

Also present at the DoJ hearing, Orate’s son Noel Jr. reiterated the family’s belief that his father was murdered and disputed Robes’s version of the incident.

“In the Soco (scene of the crime) report, there’s no fingerprint in Dad’s gun. So how can they say that he held them hostage?” Noel Jr. said.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier tasked Assistant State Prosecutor Gino Paolo Santiago to conduct the reinvestigation following an order by Quezon City Judge Luis Maceren, who earlier granted a motion filed by the Orates to defer Robes’ arraignment.