HOMICIDE suspect Bella Ruby Santos will have to face trial this month.
The court affirmed last Thursday its denial of the request of Bella’s lawyers to determine whether there is probable cause against her.
Her trial reportedly starts on Nov. 15. In her ruling, Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Ester Veloso of Branch 6 also denied Bella’s petition to recall the arrest warrant issued against her.
“With the arraignment of the accused, she has effectively abandoned her right to question the court’s finding of probable cause for the issuance of a warrant of arrest against her,” Veloso said.
Santos earlier entered a not guilty plea during her arraignment.
She and her British partner Ian Charles Griffiths face kidnapping with homicide charges in relation to the kidnap of 6-year-old Ellah Joy Pique.
Ellah Joy, who was kidnapped outside the Calajo-an Elementary School in Minglanilla town last Feb. 8, was found dead a few days later in a ravine in Barili town, south Cebu.
Bella’s lawyers also submitted yesterday their comment on the prosecution’s request to use live-link televisions during trial.
Lawyer Rameses Villagonzalo said witnesses against Santos are “perjured and coached.”
“The accused (Bella) must be afforded the full opportunity to confront their accusers including these minors,” Villagonzalo said.
The prosecution said they just want to make sure that the two minor witnesses will be comfortable when they testify in court.
In Cebu City, only the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 22 has the facilities, which were donated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (formerly United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund).
Elsewhere, the Capitol said the P300,000 reward money for the informant that tipped off authorities to Bella’s location in Manila remains unclaimed.
“So perhaps it does not also always follow that when you offer a reward this will ensure the capture who eludes arrest,” Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia told reporters last Thursday.
She said it was the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) who told her that the tipster is “unwilling” to accept the reward.
The Capitol earlier put up a P300,000 reward money for information leading to Santos’s arrest.
Santos was arrested in a mall in Mandaluyong City late last month. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol and Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus