Angry crowd hounds Vhong Navarro for ‘rape’
Vhong Navarro
He may be the one on the offensive in the Taguig City court. But at the Quezon City prosecutor’s office, he needed to evade a hostile but organized crowd that kept calling him a “rapist.”
And while he may be adored by his fans, this time he became the target of an unusual projectile: a pair of sunglasses hurled in anger.
Comedian and TV host Vhong Navarro had to be shielded by bodyguards provided by his mother studio ABS-CBN on Thursday, after being taunted and nearly mobbed by about 20 people who came in support of the three women who had accused the celebrity of rape.
Navarro appeared at the Quezon City Hall of Justice for the 9 a.m. preliminary investigation hearing on the rape complaint filed April 4 by a female stunt double, who claimed that the actor molested and forced her to perform oral sex inside his sport utility vehicle sometime in 2009. The alleged incident happened during a break in the taping session for the telenovela “I Love Betty La Fea.”
The woman was the third to sue Navarro for alleged sexual abuses.
Navarro had just stepped out of the office of Assistant City Prosecutor Nilda Ordoño when he was confronted by the stunt double’s supporters—who included Roxanne Cabañero, the second rape complainant; and Florencia Cornejo, the grandmother of the first complaint, Deniece Cornejo.
The group came in white shirts printed with the words “Justice for rape victims. Jail the serial rapist,” and also chanted “Rapist! Rapist!” as Navarro walked away from Ordoño’s fourth-floor office escorted by ABS-CBN guards.
Cabañero then hurled her shades at the actor, but it hit a wall instead. This prompted Navarro and his camp to walk faster to the exit.
Navarro denied all the rape charges, claiming they were all just intended to harass and embarrass him because of the serious illegal detention and grave coercion cases he’s pursuing in the Taguig City court against Cornejo and her friends, including businessman Cedric Lee.
He has accused Cornejo, Lee and five others of mauling him and setting him up for blackmail on Jan. 22, the night he visited Cornejo at her condo unit in Bonifacio Global City.
Cornejo, Lee and coaccused Simeon “Zimmer” Raz are currently detained, with the court hearing their petition for bail.
On May 16, a word war erupted between Cornejo’s grandmother and Navarro’s lawyer, Alma Mallonga, during a court recess.
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