‘Case closed’

The police will look into the death of the second suspect in the robbery-murder of a student who was stabbed 18 times as he was walking home in Taguig City on Oct. 14.

Senior Supt. Tomas Apolinario, Southern Police District director, told the Inquirer on Monday that they would investigate Reynold “Sakura” Clave’s death to make sure that there was no foul play.

At the same time, he said the murder complaint against Clave would no longer proceed. With Clave and the other suspect, Marvin Bernardo, both dead, the case was considered closed.

Officials said that Clave died from suffocation inside the cramped detention cell of the Taguig City police headquarters on Sunday night.

Senior Insp. Ruther Saquilayan, Taguig police investigation chief, told the Inquirer that there were 225 detainees at the time in the 60-square-meter facility. The jail was divided into two sections—male and female—with 85 percent of the inmates in the male section.

A fellow detainee called the attention of a jail officer and Clave was brought to the Taguig Pateros District Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival, Saquilayan said.

Clave and Bernardo were arrested for the death of Nick Russel Oniot, an 18-year-old architecture student of Adamson University.

Oniot was walking on Martinez Street, Barangay Central Signal, around 10:30 p.m. of Oct. 14 when he was mugged.

Based on the footage taken by a closed circuit television camera, Clave grabbed Oniot’s bag and when the teenager resisted, Bernardo stabbed him 18 times.

Both men were arrested the next day but Bernardo, who recently got out of prison on a murder charge, was shot dead after he allegedly grabbed the gun of his police escort.

For Oniot’s family, Clave’s death was a relief. “Even though the two suspects died, it won’t bring back my brother. But it feels like a big thorn was removed from our chest,” Oniot’s sister, Sheila, told the Inquirer.

“It’s a bad thing to be thankful when lives are lost. But for our family, it alleviates our pain. At least, their brutality will no longer victimize other innocent people,” she said.

Oniot was laid to rest on Sunday at Heritage Memorial Park.