Court grants PAO request to reinvestigate rape case

The court has granted the request of the Public Attorney's Office to reinvestigate the case filed against a man tagged as among those who raped and killed his 13-year-old daughter.

Regional Trial Court judge Raphael B. Yrastorza Sr. granted the request of PAO lawyer Elsa Porio because the prosecution did not raise objection to reinvestigate the rape with homicide case filed against Maximo Laputan.

Aside from Laputan, his brother Concordio was also included in the case.

The court ordered the Cebu provincial prosecutors to conduct the preliminary investigation and submit a resolution within 30 days.

Porio, acting as counsel of the respondents, claimed that his clients were not given their rights to due process because the case was filed before the court without a preliminary hearing.

The state attorney said the Carcar police failed to consider a vital piece of evidence - a bloodied pair of khaki shorts - submitted by Nida Laputan-Canape, sister of the two accused.

It was reported that the short pants was owned by Ronnie Tabora, whom the police have declared as "star witness" whose testimony was used in the filing of the case against the brothers. Reports said that the piece of clothing was now missing.

The police earlier claimed that they already turned over the short pants to the National Bureau of Investigation. But NBI's Ernesto Macabare said no evidence was ever submitted to them in relation to the case.

Porio also noted that the provincial prosecutors took as evidence Tabora's sworn statement without giving the accused a chance to present their witnesses and proof through a preliminary investigation.

She also noticed some inconsistencies in Tabora's testimonies wherein he claimed that Maximo stabbed the child to death while raping the victim. But later in the affidavit, Tabora claimed it was Concordio who stabbed the victim before Maximo got the chance to rape her.

The relatives of the accused have asked the court to subject for DNA testing the few strands of hair recovered from the crime scene so as to compare them with the samples to be taken from the Laputan brothers and Tabora.

But Cebu provincial police director Vicente Loot had said they were giving weight to Tabora's account but are not discounting the possibility that Tabora had a hand in the attack. - Rene U. Borromeo