Relatives mark Ellah Joy’s 7th b-day

ELLAH Joy Pique would have turned seven years old today.

Her family is preparing a simple salu-salo to commemorate her birth.

But the occasion wouldn’t be as happy as the past years.

Instead, her family has to deal with the dagger that struck their hearts when Ellah Joy was kidnapped and killed last Feb. 8.

“Sakit kaayo. Lisud kaayo kalimtan (It’s so painful. It’s hard to forget what happened),” her father Renante told Cebu Daily News.

The Pique family will offer Mass at the Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Parish in barangay Pardo, Cebu City, this afternoon.

They will proceed to the nearby Pardo Cemetery before they will hold a salu-salo in the residence of Ellah Joy’s grandmother.

Renante is hoping that justice would be serve.

Bella Ruby Santos and British national Ian Charles Griffiths will be facing trial on charges of kidnapping with homicide.

On Monday, the case will be raffled to a judge who shall conduct trial on the main case.

Santos’ camp yesterday got the three items that the court deemed insignifant in the case against the accused.

These include hair strands, LAN cord, documents and two stones.

Regional Trial Court Judge Meinrado Paredes conducted the evidentiary hearings to find out whether search conducted inside Santos residence in barangay Inayagan,   Naga City,  was valid./REPORTER ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL