Dumpit trial postponed

The first scheduled trial yesterday of the frustrated homicide case against policeman Adonis Dumpit was postponed to December 9.

Regional Trial Court judge Bienvenido Saniel granted the request of Dumpit's lawyer Pedro Leslie Salva for a postponement claiming that Dumpit is still in his hometown in Davao Oriental tending his family's farm.

Assistant city prosecutor Rogelio del Prado was already set to present his first prosecution witness against Dumpit yesterday but Salva convinced the court to move the trial later this year to give the defendant a chance to hear personally the testimonies of prosecution witnesses.

Dumpit has been pointed to as the one who allegedly shot and wounded Wilson Borja, 30, and Rolando Mejarito, 20, in Cebu City's Pier 4 on August 27, last year.

Borja and Mejarito said they were walking at the port area when suddenly a man, in a red multi-cab, stopped and asked where they were going. Shortly after they responded, the man shot them without provocation.

Borja suffered gunshot wounds in his nape while Mejarito was wounded in the abdomen. Both later identified Dumpit as their assailant but Dumpit strongly denied this since.

It was Borja who first filed the frustrated murder case against Dumpit, and the prosecution office deemed to treat the case separate from that of Mejarito's.

Dumpit returned to his hometown of Bagangga in Davao after the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas ordered him suspended for a year from service, due to an administrative case for grave misconduct, in connection to the shooting of Borja and Mejarito.

The policeman said he is now happy farming in his hometown but said he goes to Cebu once in a while.

Dumpit, one of Cebu City Police top marksmen, is also facing more criminal cases in court.