Witness tags guard in murder of Sison

CEBU - Five months after the brutal killing of lawyer Richard William Sison, the court has finally started yesterday the trial proper on the case where the first prosecution witness positively identifying the accused security guard as the alleged gunman.

Private prosecutor and retired judge Romulo Senining presented yesterday before Regional Trial Court branch 10 Judge Soliver Peras air conditioning technician Crisanto Lagasca as their first witness.

Lagasca pointed to Nemuel Sumabong as one of the two motorcycle-riding men who shot Sison on May 21 while on a red light along V. Sotto and M.J. Cuenco Avenue in barangay Tinago, Cebu City.

The witness said he was in the shop where he worked as technician when he first noticed a black automobile speeding off. As he followed the speeding vehicle with his eyes, he saw the two motorcycle-riding men stopped beside the Toyota pick-up driven by Sison and immediately fired at the latter.

According to Lagasca, he was able to have a good view of Sumabong’s face because the latter was not wearing a helmet and he even saw the suspect went back to the vehicle to check if the victim was still alive before they finally sped away from the crime scene.

Lagasca admitted that he refused to cooperate in the investigation at first because of fear for his security.

In fact, he said that when the police came few minutes after the shooting he did not answer their questions.

However, he was investigated later when he protested the cartographic sketch of the gunman taken by the artist of the police.

Lagasca said the police sketch of the gunman did not match of that of the real killer because the police artist only drew the sketch in “five seconds.”

On the other hand, the artist of the National Bureau of Investigation spent almost three hours to draw the cartographic sketch of the accused.

The witness was tagged along by the police in their operation to identify the suspect and was even brought to Guinsaugon in Southern Leyte to identify a suspect but it was found negative.

When they arrived from Guinsaugon, the NBI investigators started investigating Lagasca until they were able to locate Sumabong in barangay Camputhaw.

Lagasca said that before Sumabong was arrested he was asked to identify him from a distance using a binocular.

The arrest happened in Purok 8, barangay Camputhaw almost a month after Sison was killed.

Sumabong’s lawyer Windell Quiban questioned the legality of the arrest but the prosecutor’s office sustained its validity and elevated the case in court. — Fred P. Languido/WAB (THE FREEMAN)