Suspect in Ellah kidnap-slay case to yield to police

Running away was the last thing on Bella Ruby Santos’ mind.

“I won’t escape. I will surrender because it would be difficult to keep on hiding. I’m ready to accept anything that will happen,” Santos said in text messages sent to Cebu Daily News.

The Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office yesterday elevated the kidnap with homicide charges against her and her British partner Ian Charles Griffiths in court.
The Task Force Ellah Joy created a team that will serve the arrest warrant issued by the court to Santos.

“This is our job as police officers. She (Santos) should not run away from the law. She should be prepared to surrender. If the warrant is out, she should be made to face the charges in court,” said Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, Cebu provincial police chief.

The prosecutors panel found probable cause to indict Santos and Griffiths who were positively identified by 10 witnesses as the people who kidnapped and murdered 6-year-old pupil Ellah Joy Pique in Minglanilla town last Feb. 8.

“The sworn statements of these witnesses are positive and worthy of belief,” said Assistant Provincial Prosecutors Anabelle Robles, Maria Luisa Ong and Jose Edwin Renegado.

Credence

Their findings were approved by Deputy Provincial Prosecutor England Joseph Berciles.

The panel then dismissed the perjury charges filed by Santos against two Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas’ (CIDG-7) agents and two witnesses.

Santos’ allegations that the CIDG-7 fabricated stories against her wasn’t supported with sufficient evidence, the prosecutors said.

Instead, the panel gave credence to the testimonies of witnesses whom they said offered an “unbroken chain” of events that, while circumstantial in nature, can prove the guilt of Santos and Griffiths.

At least six witnesses claimed to have seen Santos outside the Calajo-an Elementary School the time when Ellah Joy was kidnapped.

Four of them also noticed a male foreigner inside a dark sports utility vehicle.

Two other witnesses positively identified Griffiths as the same person who took out a “white package” from the Pajero’s rear and dumped it off the cliff.

Totality test

The panel applied the “totality of circumstances test” set by the Supreme Court in resolving the admissibility and reliability of our-of-court identifications.

They said the witnesses had more than sufficient time to observe the respondents whom they said invited Ellah Joy inside their Pajero.

The panel said the witnesses also gave prior accurate descriptions of the respondents and confirmed it through photos.

They said the crime was committed on Feb. 8 and the respondents were identified through photos by witnesses whose memory of the crime was still fresh as of March 2011.

The witnesses were not coerced, the panel added.

While another set of witnesses previously pointed to another set of suspects, the prosecutors said the police made a mistake in presenting only Norwegian national Sven-Erik Berger and Karen Esdrelon without other suspects.

Police earlier filed charges against Berger and Esdrelon who were pointed to by a separate set of witnesses as the culprits in the girl’s death.

Crumbled

Charges against the two were dropped due to insufficient evidence and confirmation of their alibis.

The prosecutors said the two were the last persons seen with the girl.

As their alibi, Santos and Griffiths said they missed their 7:55 p.m. flight to Singapore last Feb. 7 because they allegedly arrived late in the airport.

The couple then reportedly went back to Santos’ home in Naga where they stayed until Feb. 9.

They managed to book a flight for Singapore and left in the morning of Feb. 9.

On that same day, the body of Ellah Joy was found dead off a cliff in barangay Gibuangan, Barili town.

“The alibi and bar denial invoked by Santos crumbled on its own when she contradicted her own witnesses and the documentary evidence presented,” the prosecutors said.

Silent

The witnesses presented by Santos’ claims had different accounts on their presence inside their house in barangay Inayagan, Naga City.

A witness said the couple never left their room in the afternoon of Feb. 8 but another witness said Santos went out of the room at 3 p.m. on the same day Ellah Joy was abducted.

Other witnesses said they didn’t see Santos and Griffiths in the afternoon of Feb. 8.

The prosecutors said Santos and Griffiths were “silent” in their counter-affidavits regarding their whereabouts from the afternoon of Feb. 8 to the early morning of Feb. 9.

“It was not physically impossible to reach Calajo-an, Minglanilla, from Inayagan, Naga City, which are adjacent municipalities,” the prosecutors said.

Also, the prosecutors found it strange for the couple to purchase a “last-minute one-way ticket to Singapore” on Feb. 9—the day Ellah Joy’s body was found dead in a cliff in Barili.

“The reaction of the respondents then is incredible. If they were really intent on leaving Cebu after failing to take the Feb. 7 flight, the normal reaction would be to secure another booking flight to Singapore the very next day,” the prosecutors said.

No peace

In a TV interview, Santos said she is willing to surrender once an arrest warrant will be issued against her.

“If I will hide, I won’t have any peace. I’ll just face the charges,” she said.

Santos also dismissed the challenge posed by Ellah Joy’s father Renante for her to admit to the crime.

“Good for you, Mr Pique. Keep dreaming,” Santos said.

Her lawyers Rameses Villagonzalo and Ana Luz Cristal said they will be filing a motion for reconsideration before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office.

They have 10 days from the receipt of the resolution to contest the ruling.

CIDG-7 lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna said they will move for the immediate filing of the case before the court so an arrest warrant will be issued against Santos and Griffiths.

They will also ask the court to issue a hold departure order against Santos. With a report from Correspondent Chito Aragon