Hearing for Ella Joy Pique murder case continues

CEBU, Philippines - Cross examination continued yesterday for Ligaya Escultos, the prosecution witness who fainted during the hearing of the case regarding the kidnapping and killing of Ellah Joy Pique.

In her testimony, Escultos 34, of Minulos, Barili, said that on February 8, 2011 she saw a foreign looking man later identified as accused Ian Charles Griffiths standing behind a Pajero, lifted a sack and pushed it to a ravine.

She said she never saw Griffiths opened the back door of the Pajero.

“What I saw was when he lifted the sack with both hands and placed it on a dike then pushed,” she said in Cebuano and demonstrating before the court.

Escultos likewise identified Griffiths through a photo shown to her by defense counsel Julius Caesar Entise.

She added that while traversing near Sayaw Beach in Barili town coming from a birthday party on board a motorcycle, she and Richard Ian Bruce Bansuan stopped near the water tank because they became suspicious upon seeing the foreign looking man.

When asked by Entise if the foreigner hid when they passed by the area, Escultos said no. She added she didn’t notice the color of the water tank as their focus was on the vehicle which was parked at the roadside.

“We were after the Pajero and not the water tank,” she said when she was repeatedly asked by Entise on the color of the water tank.

When she was asked if the vehicle she saw in Sayaw Beach was really a Pajero, Escultos said yes.

Escultos confirmed that she executed an affidavit after the complaint against the first set of suspects, Sven Erik Berger and Karen Esdrelon, was dismissed by the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office for lack of probable cause.

In an interview, Entise said Escultos has this behavior of changing her testimonies before the court. He said Escultos had a different testimony before Judge Ester Veloso of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 6 and before Judge Meinrado Paredes of RTC Branch 13.

Lawyer Rameses Victorious Villagonzalo of the defense said with the testimony of Escultos, he concluded that the latter was not in Sayaw Beach when the body of Ellah Joy Pique was dumped.

For the prosecution, lawyer Hazan Bargamento told the media the defense was not able to destroy the positive testimony of their witness.

Griffiths and Bella Ruby Santos were charged for kidnapping with homicide, a non-bailable offense, for the death of Pique.

In the hearing last September 3, Escultos felt weak when she was being questioned by Entise. Escultos was taken to the hospital where it was learned that her blood pressure shot up to 150/100 because of stress.

The next scheduled hearing is set on October 22, 2012. (FREEMAN)