2 Hip-Hop Gangsters convicted of killing of young Lopez scion

A Manila judge sentenced yesterday to 17 years in prison two of five members of the notorious Hip-hop Gang for stealing the van of a young businessman after shooting him to death three years ago.

Mixed emotions were felt in the courtroom of Judge Priscilla Padilla of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 38 as Clerk of Court Melody Consuelo read the verdict in open court.

Tears of joy were seen in the eyes of the family of the acquitted; while tears of grief were shed by relatives of the convicted.

For the family of the victim, Edwin Joseph Lopez, it was tears of both relief and grief, because though the case is over, they claim it was not absolute justice for the victim.

"All of them should have been convicted," said teary-eyed Priscilla Lopez, mother of the victim, who was 28 years old at the time of his death. The victim was shot in the nape at around 3:45 a.m. on Aug. 17, 1999 at the corner of Gil Puyat and Roxas Boulevard in Manila.

The victim was a relative of the Lopezes, who owns the Lopez group of companies.

The mother noted that three suspects were cleared on mere technicality and "not because they did not participate in the killing of my son."

Padilla found Timothy John Cashman, 19 and Niño Vergel, 20, both residents of Manila, guilty of car theft with homicide.

The judge said the three other accused, Marvin Mendoza, Dante Bansale, and Eric Cayanan were acquitted after the prosecution failed to prove their guilt.

Jalandoni told the court that Cashman shot Lopez because the victim resisted when the accused tried to grab the steering wheel of the van from Lopez.

Using the victim’s van, police said Cashman’s group picked up commercial sex workers along Roxas Boulevard and brought them to Cavite.

The girls, however, filed rape charges against Cashman’s group in Cavite. The rape charges were used as basis for arresting them.

During interrogation, police learned about the killing of Lopez after being informed that the Starex van was stolen from the victim, whom they had shot in Manila.

Carmen Castillon, who was with the victim inside the van, initially pointed to Cashman as the man who shot Lopez but she later recanted her statement for unknown reasons.