Police want court hearings stopped

THE judge in the Ellah Joy Pique kidnap-murder case set for June 10 the public viewing of the contents of the USB or flash drive confiscated from the house of Bella Ruby Santos, the main suspect.

Police claim the storage device has pornographic material and has bearing on the death of 6-year-old Pique, who has disappeared Feb. 8.
But the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) wants the court to hold off proceedings.

In an interview, CIDG-7 lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna said Regional Trial Court Judge Meinrado Paredes should suspend actions in court pending resolution of the criminal complaint filed against Santos and her partner before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office.

“The best venue that shall make actions is the court where the case will be assigned,” Dela Cerna said.

De la Cerna asked the court to defer proceedings till they find an information technology (IT) forensic expert from the government to determine the time and date the images in the USB were taken, and authenticity in order to anticipate objections from the defense that images were “inserted.”

The judge set the the viewing of the USB contents to June 10.

By that time, the three prosecutors, who are conducting a preliminary investigations against Santos and her British partner Ian Charles Griffiths are expected to resolve the criminal complaint against the respondents.

The incidents pending before the court are connected with police search conducted at the residence of Santos in barangay Inayagan, Naga City.
The judge, who wanted “transparency” in the case would have viewed the contents of the USB himself but said he hasn’t found an IT expert who is a “disinterested party” in the case.

He formed a three-member commission to help operate the gadget.

The group will include his clerk of court, a student at the University of Cebu College of Law, and the court interpreter.

The judge is set to resolve the CIDG-7’s motion for partial reconsideration on a ruling that ordered the return of Santos’ Pajero, the same vehicle that was purportedly used in the kidnap -slay of Pique.

Santos and Griffiths are facing charges of kidnapping with homicide before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutors’ Office. REPORTER ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL