Not guilty plea entered for Deniece

MANILA, Philippines - Model Deniece Cornejo refused to enter a plea on charges of serious illegal detention, prompting the court to enter a not guilty plea on her behalf yesterday.

There were no fireworks as Cornejo and her co-defendant businessman Cedric Lee faced their accuser, television host Vhong Navarro, at the Taguig Regional Trial Court yesterday at the hearing of their petition for bail.

Lee and Cornejo’s co-accused, Simeon “Zimmer” Raz, also attended the hearing.

Lee and Raz had earlier asked the court to allow them to remain at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) detention facility instead of the Taguig City jail.

Alma Mallonga, counsel for Navarro, told reporters that no decision was reached by the court following a three-hour hearing.

The court entered a not guilty plea for Cornejo after she refused to enter a plea to the non-bailable offense in connection with the beating of Navarro in January.

Members of the media were barred from covering the hearing.

A scuffle between a photographer and the security escort of Cornejo ensued after she went out of the courtroom.

Lee and Raz were brought back to the NBI headquarters in Manila.

Cornejo, on the other hand, will remain detained at the Criminal Investigation and Detection jail at Camp Crame with 14 other female detainees, according to CIDG spokesperson Chief Inspector Elizabeth Jasmin.

She surrendered to police authorities on Monday.

“The duty guard reported that Deniece did not sleep well during her first night at the detention cell of the CIDG-Anti Transnational Crime Unit,” Jasmin said.

She said Cornejo slept on a piece of plywood and used her towel as pillow.

Jasmin said her relatives brought her dinner before midnight.

The CIDG official said Cornejo took a bath at the toilet inside her detention cell before she was brought to the Taguig court.

Aside from Lee, Cornejo and Raz, arrest warrants for serious illegal detention have been issued against Ferdinand Guerrero and Jed Fernandez, who remain at large. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe