Mother of road rage victim to suspect: Come out of hiding

After the suspect in her son’s death failed to attend any of the hearings during the preliminary investigation of the murder charge against him, Ester Mendoza urged Fredison Atienza to appear in court.

The other day, Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Elenita Alviar considered the case against Atienza submitted for resolution after he failed to attend all six hearings.

The suspect is accused of shooting and killing Anthony Mendoza in a road rage incident in Quezon City last February.

A tearful Ester shared her grief over not seeing the man who pulled the trigger on her second son and took his life with just a single bullet to the head.

“The pain I feel becomes worse the longer [Atienza] remains in hiding,” Ester said in an interview with the Inquirer. “It’s as if you just shrugged off what you did to my son,” she added.

According to her, some of Atienza’s relatives reached out to their family several months back although the overtures have stopped.

During the final hearing on Monday, Marc Anthony Patriarca, Atienza’s lawyer, said that the suspect had begged off from attending the hearing, citing an asthma attack the night before. He added, however, that Atienza has not left the country.

“Whether it’s high blood or asthma, what he did to us is more painful,” Ester said. “He killed my son.”