Bank cashier IDs Torres as robber

The female cashier of Penbank yesterday testified for the prosecution and identified positively Rey Torres as the man who grabbed the bag she was holding and containing the P854,000 of Penbank during a robbery in Bulacao, Talisay City last April 8.

Penbank's cashier Laura Tan, in her testimony at the second trial of Torres, confirmed to Regional Trial Court Judge Ireneo Lee Gako, Jr. that she was sure it was Torres who ran away with the money she and her companions were about to deposit to a nearby bank.

Torres came to court in crutches with his left leg already amputated due to an infection to his knee that was hit in a shootout with policemen shortly before he was arrested on June 14 in Zamboanga del Sur. Inside the courtroom, Tan pointed at Torres as the robber, saying she remembered him well as good looking with salient facial features such as "lawon og mata (deep-set eyes)." She said she did not know his name then until she saw his picture at the Theft and Robbery Section where she first identified him.

Torres has been charged with robbing the money of Penbank contained in the bag in the hands of Tan, an accusation that he denied during his arraignment last August 1. It was also reported he had two companions in holding up Tan and her co-employees.

Tan came out of Penbank with her co-employees, messenger Jennifer Bartilic and guard Dindo Bermejo, carrying the money for deposit at a nearby bank. But since there was no armored van then, they decided to hire a tricycle to take them to the other bank.

On their way, however, three motorcycle-riding men stopped and held them up at gunpoint and one of them grabbed the bag from Tan. He was Torres, she said.- Liv G. Campo