Ellah’s pa wants CIDG help in homicide case

THE father of kidnap murder victim Ellah Joy Pique sought out the Criminal Investigation Detection Group (CIDG) to provide assistance to the prosecutors handling their case.

Renante Pique met with CIDG-7 lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna to ask for assistance yesterday.

“We will see it through. We will help him as much as we helped him the first time around,” said dela Cerna, also legal counsel of Task Force Ellah Joy.

Dela Cerna and other police lawyers represented the victim’s family during the previous evidentiary proceedings.

But they were later excluded from the prosecuting team since the Pique family chose the lawyers of the Children’s Legal Bureau (CLB) as private prosecutors.

Renante believed that dela Serna can still assist the CLB in building their case against suspects Bella Ruby Santos and her British partner Ian Charles Griffiths.

Cebu Daily News tried but failed to contact the CLB lawyers.

Next week, Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba will meet with the CLB lawyers and prosecutors to finalize details for the case.

Two witnesses were given provisional coverage under the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program.

One of the witnesses earlier claimed being bribed with P500,000 to recant statements made against Santos and Griffiths. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol