Justice elusive for kin of 7-year-old stray bullet victim

Justice remains elusive for the family of Stephanie Nicole Ella, a year after she was killed by a stray bullet while watching fireworks with her family outside their house in Caloocan City.

Even the country’s top police official has admitted the difficulty in tracking down the person responsible for the death of the seven-year-old honor student who died in the hospital two days after she became a victim of indiscriminate firing during the New Year’s Eve revelry in 2012.

Despite the Aquino administration’s offer of a P2.4 million reward, there has been insignificant progress in the investigation conducted by authorities into Ella’s death.

But Director General Alan Purisima, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), maintained that the police were doing everything to find her killer.

“We are still gathering more information [regarding this case] but we are really having a hard time in the investigation,” Purisima told reporters after he inspected stalls selling firecrackers in Bocaue, Bulacan, over the weekend.

“We don’t want to pick up a fall guy just to pretend that we have solved the case only to fail to prove that the person was really responsible for what happened,” he added.

He said he had ordered all chiefs of police throughout the country to intensify patrol operations in all communities to prevent cases of indiscriminate firing during the usual celebration welcoming the New Year.

Asked what made it difficult to locate and identify the person behind Ella’s death, the PNP chief said: “What the police are looking for is not just intelligence [information] but evidence. The evidence should be strong enough to convict the person.”

“It’s not enough for us to solve the case. What we need is for the person who will be charged to get convicted,” Purisima said.

“We are optimistic that the person [responsible for Ella’s death] will eventually get arrested. The long arm of the law will catch up with him,” he added.

Ella fought for her life at the intensive care unit of East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City for two days before she succumbed to death after suffering eight cardiac arrests.

The girl’s death revived debates on the nationwide implementation of a total gun ban and stricter gun control measures.

The bullet which lodged in her head was fired from a .45-cal. pistol about 50 meters away from where she stood, police probers said.