Court inspects site of businessman’s slay

A CANDON city court inspected the area where a seaman-businessman was shot to death on Father’s Day in 2023.

The family of the victim, 43-year-old Patrick Santos Abdon; Ilocos Sur Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23 Presiding Judge Richard Domingo; lawyers of the victim and the suspect, 38-yearold Glorioso Jeff Suyat Cauton; government prosecutors and the lone witness returned to Poblacion Sur in the town of Sta. Cruz, Ilocos Sur where the shooting occurred on June 18, 2023.

This was the first time since the shooting transpired that Abdon’s family returned to the crime scene. The process visibly affected the victim’s sister, Pinky, who broke down in tears after the witness described details of the crime on the night of the fatal shooting.

The ocular inspection on February 27 took around 30 minutes. Speaking to The Manila Times after the inspection, the counsel of the victim’s family, Emmanuel Solis 3rd of Divinagracia Solis and Associates Law Offices, said they were able to establish details of the testimony of the lone witness.

Solis said they were able to study the street’s lighting system, where Abdon’s white Chevrolet Trailblazer was parked, and the height of the wall of the house of the suspect and whether or not a person could be identified when viewed from a certain distance.

“The inspection was requested by the defense, the purpose of which we cannot deduce because all it did was to establish that the witness was telling the truth,” Solis said.

The lone witness accompanied Abdon to the house of Cauton on the night of the shooting.

He said when they arrived at Cauton’s house, the victim instructed him to stay inside the vehicle. He later heard the victim calling for the suspect who was inside the house at that time. Shortly after, he heard a series of gunshots.

The witness said he panicked because of what transpired, prompting him to jump from the passenger to the driver’s seat to get away. He was able to drive the car for about a hundred meters but opted to run away when the engine stalled, leaving the vehicle behind.

During the ocular inspection, the witness showed Judge Domingo where the vehicle was parked.

It was also established that the solar lamppost was located at the gate of the suspect’s house and that its light enabled the witness to positively identify Cauton as the one who shot the victim multiple times.

The following day, February 28, the lone witness was cross-examined by the defense as it tried to punch holes into his testimony.

The next hearing has been scheduled for May.

The suspect is currently detained at the Ilocos Sur Provincial Jail.