Bohol Provincial Board Member Niño Rey Boniel is escorted back to his detention cell in Cebu City hours before he is transferred to a jail facility in Bohol nearer his hometown in Bien Unido. —JUNJIE MENDOZA/CEBU DAILY NEWS
TAGBILARAN CITY — The Bohol provincial official tagged as key suspect in the killing of his wife, a town mayor, has started to anchor his defense on the continued disappearance of the murder victim’s body as authorities are pinning him down on another case that could keep him in jail while the search for the body goes on.
Niño Rey Boniel, Bohol provincial board member, also started to publicly unfurl more details about his marriage with Mayor Gisela Boniel of Bien Unido town, which turned tragic after it had been touted as a fairytale romance in the largely agricultural town.
Niño, a Bohol provincial board member, had been escorted to the Talibon District Jail where he would be detained while awaiting court action on kidnapping and serious illegal detention charges in connection with the criminal complaint filed by Angela Leyson, best friend of Gisela.
Gisela is believed to have been killed by Niño but her body has yet to be found.
In her complaint, Leyson accused Niño of taking her and her son and detaining them to prevent them from reporting to authorities when Niño forcibly took Gisela at a hotel room to kill her.
Rest period
Niño had been escorted to jail by at least 10 policemen in full battle gear, arriving at the facility around 4 a.m. on Saturday with his lawyer, Gerardo Carillo.
“I hope he will be able to rest,” said Carillo of his client.
Space at the Talibon jail was bigger compared to the police stockade in Cebu City where Niño had been held, the lawyer said.
Niño would share a cell in Talibon with at least 10 other inmates.
“He’s not complaining,” said Carillo of Niño.
His co-accused in the illegal detention charges — Restituto Magoncia and Wilfredo Hoylar — are detained at the Talibon police jail in anticipation of a commitment order from the court.
Niño is also facing a parricide complaint in Cebu for the alleged killing of Gisela on June 7. Nino repeatedly denied that he killed or had his wife killed.
But in a counteraffidavit that Niño submitted to the Lapu-Lapu prosecutor’s office on Friday, he said he could not afford to kill Gisela even if they had a spat over money and infidelity.
No body, no crime
Niño asked a three-man panel of prosecutors conducting a preliminary probe of the parricide case to dismiss the charge, saying there was no proof Gisela was really dead.
“My wife Gisela has all the reasons to hide or even feign death because she is neck-deep buried in debt,” Niño said in his affidavit.
Niño said their house in Monterrazas Village in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City, had been mortgaged to pay part of Gisela’s debts, which she purportedly incurred before her marriage to Niño.
Niño also said he and Gisela already had an agreement to annul their marriage after he had discovered her infidelity.
“Had I the intention of killing her, I could have done it inside a hotel room with her paramour,” Niño said.
Carillo said the camp of Niño received reports that Gisela was seen in Dubai, which if true, would debunk reports that she had been killed.