Pique case witness fails to appear during hearing

CEBU, Philippines - Ian Bruce Bansuan, a prosecution witness in the kidnapping with homicide case of six-year-old Ellah Joy Pique failed to appear in court yesterday after he suffered an asthma attack.

Prosecution lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna said the supposed testimony of Bansuan was for direct examination.

However, it was postponed after Bansuan suffered asthma attack on his way to Cebu City and is now confined at the Barili District Hospital.

Dela Cerna presented the medical certificate of Bansuan to the court.

However, Defense laywer Rameses Villagonzalo said they must provide a laboratory test to prove the asthma attack.

Earlier, the defense team filed a motion for the production of the medical records of Bansuan.

Pique was kidnapped on February 8, 2011 on her way home from school in Barangay Calajo-an, Minglanilla town.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice also dismissed the petition for review filed by the camp of Bella Ruby Santos, the accused in the case.

Villagonzalo said the dismissal of the petition was due to “no reversible error” in the resolution of the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.

He said they will not file motion for reconsideration as to the dismissal of the petition.

Earlier, the defense filed a petition for review seeking the reversal of the ruling of the Prosecutor’s Office indicting Santos and her British boyfriend Ian Charles Griffiths for kidnapping with homicide.

Moreover, Villagonzalo said Griffiths was denied due process after he was not given the opportunity to answer the allegations filed against him.

Griffiths is still at large.   (FREEMAN)