Fugitive eludes cops third time; police arrest his mother, neighbor
For the third time, escapee Ricky Andojar slipped out of the grasp of Mandaue City policemen who went looking for him at his house in barangay Talamban, Cebu City.
Police instead arrested the fugitive’s mother and a female neighbor who intervened and tried to block the entry of law enforcers, which gave Andojar time to escape through a back window.
Police arrested the 59-year-old mother Siberina and 18-year-old neighbor Jenifer Cogay.
They were taken to the Subangdaku police precinct and will be charged with harboring or concealing a fugitive, said police.
Senior Insp. Wilson Abot said police received a report on Friday morning that Ricky was seen in his house in sitio Binaliw, barangay Talamban, Cebu City.
Abot said police went to Binaliw late at night hoping they would catch the inmate sleeping.
When police arrived at 11:30 p.m. they talked with the mother Siberina who denied that her son, who escaped from his jail escorts last Tuesday after attending a court hearing, was in the house.
Abot said they became suspicious when Siberina didn’t allow them to enter the house.
Policemen insisted on entering but Siberina and Cogay blocked their path. This gave Ricky time to get out through a window then climb up to the roof and escape through the top of neighboring houses.
Police gave chase but failed to locate the inmate.
Police recovered a sweatshirt, a blanket and a pillow believed to have been used by Ricky when he was in the house.
Police earlier tried but failed to arrest Ricky last Wednesday in barangay Bajac, Liloan town, northern Cebu.
Mandaue police went to Bajac after being tipped off that Ricky was staying in the house of an aunt.
A police team was in Bajac waiting for the the right time to arrest Ricky when a separate team from the Mandaue City Jail arrived and talked to the inmate’s aunt.
Alerted by the presence of policemen, the inmate fled by jumping out the window.
Ricky escaped last Tuesday after attending a court hearing at the Mandaue City Hall of Justice. He slipped out of his handcuffs, took off his orange prison T-shirt and boarded a passenger jeepney.
After the escape, Supt. Jessie Calumpang was relieved as warden of the Mandaue City Jail, while JO2 YOlando Salazar, the jail escort of Ricky during the escape, was transferred to the Consolacion jail pending further investigation./CORESPONDENT NORMAN V. MENDOZA
