Pa relives painat witness stand

CEBU, Philippines - Renante Pique broke down in tears as he relives his experience over a year ago when his six-year-old daughter Ellah Joy Pique was kidnapped in Minglanilla and found dead in Barili a day after.

Pique yesterday took the witness stand as the fourth prosecution witness in the kidnapping with homicide case against Bella Ruby Santos and her British boyfriend Ian Charles Griffiths.

Pique burst into tears upon seeing his daughter’s school uniform, bag and other school things presented by prosecutor Petronio Elesterio during the continuation of the hearing at the Regional Trial Court.

The father recalled how he prepared and sent his daughter for school on February 8, 2011 without knowing that, that would be his last to see her alive.

Pique said that when he went home from work on that day he noticed that Ellah Joy was not yet around prompting him to look for her in school. According to him, when he got to school he found that the gate was already closed and that nobody was around. 

Pique said he immediately texted his wife and went to the house of his daughter’s classmates to ask her whereabouts. Pique said that Joy Love told him that Ellah Joy boarded a vehicle.

Pique said he reported his daughter’s abduction to the police station in Minglanilla and continued looking for her until she was found dead in Barili town on February 9, 2011.

The prosecution yesterday presented several documents including the death certificate to prove the victim’s death.

Defense lawyer Rameses Villagonzalo did not have a long cross-examination. He only asked Pique if he was the same complainant who filed a complaint against Karen Esdrelon and Norwegian nation Sven Erik Berger.

When Pique admitted filing the case against Esdrelon and Berger over the kidnapping and murder of his daughter, Villagonzalo immediately aborted his cross-examination.

According to Villagonzalo, Pique’s admission of the previous case against another couple has already established that there was a previous case that was dismissed.

The police earlier charged Esdrelon and Berger but were cleared of the complaint by the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office for lack of evidence. (FREEMAN)