Victim’s helper recalls ‘carnap king’ inquiries

In a court testimony, a male helper working for the family of slain automotive dealer Venson Evangelista identified alleged car theft ring leader Raymond Dominguez as the person who made inquiries at the victim’s home and shop in Quezon City the night before Venson disappeared.

At the trial held Thursday in a makeshift courtroom at New Bilibid Prison, where Dominguez is detained for another car theft case, Jojo Quiliza recalled that Dominguez showed up at the Evangelistas’ place on Sgt. Juan Catolos Street, Cubao, on the night of Jan. 12, 2011.

Raymond Dominguez and brother Roger had been tagged as the killing’s mastermind based on a testimony by star witness Alfred Mendiola, one of the poseur buyers who used the alias “Allan Torres” to get to Evangelista. Mendiola was later found killed in Cavite province in May last year.

Quiliza said Dominguez introduced himself as a friend of Torres and insisted on seeing and taking for a test drive a Toyota Land Cruiser that Torres was supposedly planning to buy.

The witness remembered explaining to Dominguez that they don’t allow road tests at night. “I remember his face clearly because he was very insistent on testing the car,” Quiliza said before Judge Maria Rita Bascos-Sarabia of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 215.

Quiliza said recognized Dominguez’s face when it was flashed on TV news reports concerning the death of Evangelista, whose body was found burnt and with a gunshot wound on the head in Cabanatuan City two days after he went out for the test drive.