Burglary victim charged for slay try on former suspect

Policemen arrested yesterday morning a businesswoman, whose house was hit by burglars two years ago, and her driver after they allegedly abducted a former suspect and tried to kill him when he refused to testify against another respondent in the case.

Francia Regachuelo and her driver George Lagumo were arrested after former suspect Christopher Galera told police that Lagumo stabbed him in the back and then dumped him at a vacant lot in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

In an interview, Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of the Quezon City Police District-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU), said Regachuelo and Lagumo allegedly forced Galera into a vehicle in Quezon City Sunday morning.

Mabanag said Galera was earlier implicated in a burglary at Regachuelo’s house in 2007 involving valuables worth P1 million.

The prosecutor dismissed the case against Galera and three other suspects. However, the case against one of their companions prospered and is still being heard in court.

Sta. Rosa police officers found Galera and brought him to a nearby hospital, said QCPD-CIDU deputy chief Superintendent Gerardo Ratuita.

Ratuita said Galera then contacted his relatives, who transferred him to a hospital in Quezon City and reported the incident to the QCPD.

Police said Regachuelo and Lagumo are facing charges of kidnapping and frustrated murder.

Galera’s mother, Teresita, said her son is not a member of a robbery group, noting that the case against her son had long been dismissed.

Melinda Icip, wife of another former robbery suspect, said Regachuelo abducted Galera probably because she could not accept that the robbery case she filed had been dismissed. She said they have been receiving threats from Regachuelo.      – Reinir Padua