De la Victoria murder case Judge to inspect crime scene

Regional Trial Court judge Ireneo Lee Gako Jr. has agreed to personally inspect the place where Bantay Dagat project director Elpidio "Jojo" de la Victoria was gunned down, and get an impression on how it happened and help resolve some knotty issues over the testimonies of witnesses.

Both the private prosecutors and the defense agreed that the inspection will help Gako see for himself if it was really possible for "eyewitness" Joselito Gerali to see the actual shooting and identify who the gunman was.

For the fourth time, Gerali is set to face the defense lawyers for cross-examination at the resumption of the trial in Gako's court.

Gerali, in his first three appearances on the witness stand, alleged that he saw, from outside his store, the accused Marcial Ocampo run towards De la Victoria's house, and fire a "shiny .45 cal. gun" at the victim.

Defense lawyer Hector Fernandez earlier presented to court enlarged pictures of the places around the crime scene to convince the judge that the store of Gerali is too far from De la Victoria's house to make it possible for Gerali to see the accused shoot the victim.

During the hearing of the case last Friday, Gako asked Gerali about what kind of gate was at the entrance of de la Victoria's house, and if the latter could see from his store what happened to De la Victoria after the first, second and third shots.

Gerali admitted that, from where he was standing outside his store, he was not able to see what happened to De la Victoria who, when gunned down, was already partly hidden by the concrete wall of the fence.

During the inspection, Gako said he will also see the exact place where Gerali and some of his relatives and friends surrounded Ocampo before the latter managed to take a cab and escape.

Gako's question on the position of De la Victoria after he was shot was meant to see if it is possible to determine the height of the gunman, based on the trajectory of the bullets hitting the victim.

But gun experts said the trajectory of bullets might not be a reliable way of determining the height of the person who fired the gun because the place where the gunman stands and the position of his hands while shooting could have effects over the given premise.

Among the possible variables on the matter is when a victim might be on lower ground than where the gunman was standing, or the gunman could have raised his arm higher in firing the gun. - Rene U. Borromeo