Retired judge tried to stop maid’s suicide try

The retired judge who was found dead inside his room in Binangonan, Rizal last Saturday tried to prevent his housemaid from committing suicide, police said.

Investigation showed that retired Judge Percival Lopez, 71, had grappled for possession of the gun with housemaid Maricel Carino, 24, when she accidentally pulled the trigger, hitting herself in the stomach and the bullet then piercing Lopez’ chest, Superintendent Raymundo Oliquiano, Binangonan police chief, said.

Lopez and Carino were found locked in an embrace by members of Lopez’s family. He was atop her and the fatal gun was found near them.

Lopez died while he, together with Carino, was being rushed to the Angono Medical Hospital.

Doctors have declared Carino out of danger, but she refused to cooperate in the police investigation.

"She (Carino) refused to talk to us, so it will be difficult for us to establish the motive behind the incident," Oliquiano said.

Scene-of-the crime operatives (SOCO) of the Eastern Police District have conducted paraffin tests on Lopez and Carino to determine who between them had fired the recovered gun.

Oliquiano said they will file homicide charges against Carino should the SOCO report establish that she fired the gun.

Carino is under a 24-hour police watch at the hospital to prevent her from escaping.

Oliquiano said probers were also establishing why Carino was inside Lopez’s room at the second floor of the retired judge’s residence and how she was able to get hold of his firearm.