Carnapping raps filed vs. woman

CEBU, Philippines – Despite the disapproval of the city prosecutors office because of the absence of a standing witness, a carnapping case filed against a woman was elevated to the Regional Trial Court yesterday.

Brigette Insoy, is now facing charges for carnapping before the RTC after she allegedly took the Hyundai Starex van of businessman Joseph Luis Espiritu worth P1.150 million last November 2006,

According to Espiritu, Insoy introduced herself as a close friend of his brother Thaddeus and said that she is very much interested in buying the said van for P1.150 million.

Espiritu said that Insoy told him that instead of paying the said amount, she can just swap the van with a brand new Toyota Super Grandia and he will just add P350,000 because the Grandia is more expensive than the Starex.

After signing a memorandum of agreement, Insoy took with her the van together with the original document, certificate of registration and receipt.

However, the agreement was not realized because Insoy failed to fulfill her promise. Espiritu then called Insoy and demanded the return of the vehicle of which she did last December 2006.

After the said van was returned to Espiritu, he parked it in his office. However, he noticed that the said van suddenly disappeared after several days.

The operation manager of the parking lot told him that the van was driven by Insoy out of the parking lot.

When she called Insoy, she told him that somebody was interested in buying the van.

Because the witness did not execute an affidavit that Insoy was the one who took the van and the city prosecutors office disapproved the resolution of the case.

However, with the comment filed by prosecutor Victor Laborte disagreed with the resolution of investigating prosecutor Jose Nathaniel Andal.

Laborte said that the evidence is sufficient to establish that a degree of proof is required for findings of a probable cause. — Jasmin R. Uy/BRP (THE FREEMAN)