‘Camera operator won’t run from mauling case’

The lawyer of former security camera operator Jeffrey Aquino will ask the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office to downgrade the charges against his client from murder to homicide, a bailable offense.

Salvador Solima also said his client won’t go into hiding.

“He (Aquino) will not escape. He will face the charges filed against him. There’s no reason for him to escape. I believe he is innocent,” the lawyer said.

Solima said he was surprised over the charges filed against his client.

He said he will file a counter-affidavit as soon as they receive a notice from the city prosecutor’s office.

Aquino’s employment was terminated by Gaisano Metro after the April 12 fatal mauling of 23-year-old customer Mario Alfie Ducayag, a suspected shoplifter.

Ducayag was handcuffed and taken into the store’s security room.

“He was only told to handcuff the victim yet he was considered the main suspect in the crime. I thought they would only file, at most, homicide or reckless imprudence resulting to homicide,” Solima told reporters yesterday.

Aquino was charged with murder by prosecutors for allegedly single-handedly mauling the shopper to death.

The National Bureau of Investigation said two aisano Metro Colon security officers Mauricio Doblados Jr., and Melvin Boyles ral Visayas (NBI-7), were also charged and held accountable for failing to restrain the camera operator’s violence.

Doblados was later fired as the store’s chief security officer; and Boyles, as confidential intelligence officer.

Doblados is facing a separate charge of obstruction of justice after he misled law enforcers by teling them that Ducayag was caught trying to take home an unpaid pair of sandals.

In earlier accounts, Aquino said he witnessed the two security officers maul the shopper.

Solima said he already talked with Aquino about the filing of charges.

“I explained to him (Aquino) that no warrant of arrest will be issued against him as of now,” he said.

It’s up to the court to decide whether to issue an arrest warrant.

The NBI-7 inquiry concluded that the slain shopper was not a shoplifter.