DOJ clears man in deaths of wife, child in Laguna

Department of Justice. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared Ricardo “Richard” Sta. Ana in the deaths of his wife and child in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

In a 13-page resolution made public on Wednesday, the DOJ said it has dismissed the case against Sta. Ana for insufficiency of evidence.

Sta. Ana’s wife Pearl and one-year-old son Denzel were found dead last March 2 inside their house in Laguna. Both mother and child died due to head injuries. Pearl was also raped.

Sta. Ana was implicated after he was tagged by Ramoncito Bituin as “Jeff” who hired him and a certain Bryan to kill his wife and child.

READ: Laguna murder suspect tags victim’s husband as brains

In his affidavit, he said Sta. Ana met them last Feb. 29 and gave them an advance payment of P10,000 including a map of the subdivision where his family resides. Bituin said after he showed “Jeff” the videotape of the crime, they were paid P50,000.

READ: Laguna murder suspect tags victim’s husband as brains

Ricardo, in his counter-affidavit, denied the allegations. He said he never met Bituin and he was in his house last Feb. 29. He said the only instance that he went out was only to buy dinner at a nearby eatery.

Ricardo added that he also has no financial means to hire a killer because he was jobless and only relies on the financial assistance from his mother who works abroad and he never met Bituin last March 2 in Laguna because he was on his way to Cubao for a job interview. He also presented a bus ticket as proof. Neither was he in Alabang where the P50,000 was paid. He presented a closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of an adjacent establishment to show that he was never in the area that day.

In dismissing the case against Ricardo, the DOJ said the complaint was based solely on the testimony of Bituin. The DOJ said Bituin’s testimony to implicate Ricardo as a co-conspirator there has to be other evidence aside from the testimony.

“Independent evidence of conspiracy must first be given before the admission of a conspirator may be received against his co-conspirator. In this case, there is absolutely no evidence adduced to establish conspiracy among Ramoncito, Ricardo and a certain Bryan,” the DOJ said.

“In short, the extrajudicial confession of Ramoncito [Bituin] lack the indispensable requisite of corroboration by other evidence,” the resolution further stated.

The DOJ also noted that the testimony of another witness Alexander Villamente, a tricycle driver, lacks credibility.

Villamente, in his testimony, said last Feb. 22, while waiting for passengers, Ricardo who introduced himself as “Jeff” offered him P5,000 if he could introduce him to a killer.

“Perhaps Ricardo might have done this if Ricardo had known Alexander long enough, but Alexander says he was asked by Ricardo to introduce him to a killer just after Ricardo introduced himself,” the DOJ resolution stated.

“Why would Ricardo call on Alexander whom he just met and seriously make the alleged request,” the DOJ pointed out.

The resolution also noted that Bituin met Ricardo or “Jeff” to him in Sta. Rosa last March 2 around 2 p.m. but another witness said he saw Ricardo almost at the same date and time near Olympia Subdivision.

“This effectively made Ricardo present in two places almost at the same time which is a physical impossibility,” the DOJ said.

The motive of jealousy also cannot stand said the DOJ because a witness admitted that she is not sure if Ricardo is aware of the relationship between his wife and her ex-boyfriend.

The DOJ resolution through Deputy City Prosecutor Oscar T. Co and City Prosecutor Cesar D. Calubag said that while they sympathize with the relatives of the victim “it is however, our solemn duty as prosecutors to have a cautious and thorough examination of the records before us in order that the right persons to liberty will not be prejudiced.” RAM