Quezon City prosecutor presses murder raps vs doc’s ex-flame

Gateway mall, where John Patrick Torres was arrested PHOTO FROM ARANETACENTER.NET

MANILA, Philippines—The Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office has recommended murder charges against a jobless man accused of stabbing dead a male dermatologist, who was his allegedly his former lover.

Suspect John Patrick Torres, 28, underwent inquest proceedings on Monday night for the killing of 32-year-old Russel Fritz Saliganan, a dermatologist with Slimmers World.

This was following his arrest at a Cubao mall on Sunday afternoon, or three days after the incident.

On Monday night, the inquest fiscal recommended the filing of a murder case against Torres and another person for violating a city ordinance prohibiting deadly weapons.

Murder is a non-bailable crime under the Revised Penal Code. After the inquest proceedings, Torres was brought back to the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit to await trial.

According to homicide section head Insp. Elmer Monsalve, Torres was collared at the Gateway Mall with a steel knuckle in his right fist, concealed with a white towel wrapped around his hand.

In a one-page resolution, assistant city prosecutor Nanette Austria said Torres was lawfully arrested and that there is sufficient evidence to hold him for trial.

“Considering that the respondent was the last person seen with the victim, entering the latter’s apartment prior to his death, and considering that nobody saw the victim alive after that, there is reasonable ground to believe that the respondent killed the victim,” part of the resolution read.

The inquest prosecutor also noted the account of a deaf-mute man who saw Torres with Saliganan as the couple entered the apartment after buying a bottle of Emperador Light on Jan. 10.

Saliganan’s bloodied body was found by a neighbor at past midnight of Jan. 11 inside the victim’s apartment on Batay Street, Barangay (village) Kaunlaran.

Torres was linked to the murder based on the accounts of two men, one a deaf-mute, who claimed seeing the suspect with the victim prior to the killing.

Quoting the victim’s friends, Monsalve said Saliganan ended the relationship as he felt restricted by his boyfriend.

The victim’s friends also claimed that Saliganan told them of past fights over the boyfriend’s fits of jealousy.

Monsalve said this alleged jealousy may have been further fueled by the fact that the victim was interested in someone new.

According to the medical certificate, the cause of death was “stab wounds, neck and trunk.”

Case investigator PO2 Jogene Hernandez pointed out the presence of defensive wounds on the victim’s arms.

He also noted traces of the victim’s blood on the apartment wall, which may have been splattered in Saliganan’s attempt to call for help before dying inside his home.

Meanwhile, CIDU head Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo said they are still waiting for the results of tests done on latent fingerprints lifted from Saliganan’s apartment, particularly from the liquor bottle, which will establish Torres’ presence at the apartment that night.