Cebu road rage case must wait in line, says prosecutor
Cebu road suspect David Lim Jr. is escroted to the stockade of the Cebu City Police Office after CCPO director, Senior Supt. Joel Doria turned down the request of Lim’s lawyer to return him to the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas where he surrendered early Tuesday. -Junjie Mendoza, CDN
CEBU CITY—There would be no special treatment for road rage suspect David Lim Jr., Cebu City’s Assistant State Prosecutor Ma. Theresa Casiño said on Wednesday as she rejected a request from the camp of the 28-year-old to speed up the resolution of his case.
“Our office doesn’t prioritize just because of individuals or positions. I resolve cases on a first come, first served basis. Whatever is first on the line comes first,” Casiño said.
Aside from Lim’s case, Casiño said she was also handling the complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation against three Romanian nationals suspected to be behind the series of unauthorized withdrawals from automated teller machines of a government bank in Cebu.
The complaint against the Romanians were filed on Tuesday morning, ahead of Lim’s case.
Orlando Salatandre Jr., Lim’s lawyer, has been waiting at the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office since Wednesday morning, hoping that the resolution of the complaints would be released and the cases be elevated to the court so his client could post bail and be released from detention.
Lim was brought to the stockade of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) on Tuesday evening, some 19 hours after he surrendered to the police.
Senior Supt. Joel Doria, CCPO director, turned down the request of Salatandre that the suspect be brought back to police headquarters where he surrendered two days after he shot Ephraim Nuñal, a nurse, over a traffic altercation on Sunday.
“For us, there is no rich or poor detainee. All are equal,” Doria said.
Charges of frustrated murder and illegal possession of ammunition were filed against him. He is also accused of violating Article 275 of the Revised Penal Code which penalizes anyone who “fail to help or render assistance to another whom he has accidentally wounded.”
Lim’s girlfriend, Tamae Takashashi, who fled with him shortly after the incident remains at large.
After evading a large-scale manhunt, Lim turned himself in to regional police head, Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, accompanied by his lawyer and several others, including his mother, Bebong.
But the .22 caliber he used in the shooting was missing, after Salatandre said Lim panicked and later “misplaced” it.
The police said they opted not to file a case for possession of illegal firearms against Lim even as he was clearly seen on a video that circulated on the internet threatening the victim with the pistol.
“For now, we don’t have the physical evidence which is needed in filing a case,” Doria said.
The suspect had chosen to waive his right to a preliminary investigation which could have given him the chance to refute the allegations.
Salatandre said the best option for them was to immediately post bail and answer the accusations in court.
