Fraternity member shot dead
A STILL unidentified member of a fraternity was shot dead on Sunday night on a street in Manila. It took barangay (village) watchmen several minutes before they tracked down the victim at the corner of Muelle del Quinta and Carlos Palanca streets in Quiapo from the sound of a single gunshot. They took him to Jose Abad Santos Mother and Child Hospital where he died while undergoing treatment for a single gunshot wound in the head. Manila Police District homicide section investigators described the victim as between 33 and 37 years old, 5’7″ tall, with fair skin and of medium build. He was clad in a black T-shirt with the words “Tau Gamma Taguig City chapter” printed on the front and a pair of denim jeans. The victim also bore a Tau Gamma Phi ritual mark on his abdomen. Case investigator Police Officer 3 Giovanni Valera said the badly wounded man was found by barangay watchmen at around 10 p.m. on Sunday, some 30 minutes after they heard a gun go off. At the crime scene, the case investigator said they found an empty .45-cal. shell. There were no witnesses to the shooting, he added.—Jeannette I. Andrade
Accused’s lawyer asks judge to inhibit self
THE lawyer of prospective state witness Alfred Mendiola has asked a Quezon City judge to inhibit herself from handling the car-theft and homicide case filed against the Dominguez brothers in connection with the killing of car dealer Venson Evangelista. In an eight-page motion, lawyer Willie Rivera claimed that Judge Luisa Padilla of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 215 had exhibited bias in handling the case. “It is most respectfully prayed…and invoking its kind indulgence that the honorable judge inhibit or disqualify herself in the above-entitled case in the interest of substantial justice,” the motion read. In a hearing on Monday afternoon, Padilla ordered the lawyers of accused Raymond and Roger Dominguez, Jayson Miranda and the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office to file their comment on the inhibition plea. Assistant City Prosecutor Ramoncito Ocampo Jr., however, told the court that the prosecution panel was not inclined to file any comment or opposition. “It does not mean that we are supporting the inhibition but that we are simply not inclined to file any comment regarding the inhibition,” he told reporters.—Julie M. Aurelio