UK MAN MAY FACE TRIAL FOR 2011 CHILD KIDNAPPING CASE
Six years ago Ellah Joy Pique, 6, was abducted while walking home from school in Barangay Calajoan, Minglanilla town. She was found dead, her body wrapped in a bed sheet, in Barangay Sayaw in Barili on the next day
A man who has been linked to the kidnapping and killing of a six-year-old girl in 2011 has decided to face trial in order to clear his name, his lawyer said. Lawyer Rameses Villagonzalo, on behalf of Ian Charles Griffiths, filed a motion asking the Cebu City Regional Trial Court for a list of the prosecution’s witnesses and a schedule of hearings, among others. The case against his Cebuana girlfriend Bella Ruby Santos was dropped for lack of evidence last October 2014.
The father of Ellah Joy Pique wanted to hear in court the story of British national Ian Charles Griffiths, one of the accused in the kidnap-slay of his six-year-old daughter in 2011.
Renante will possibly get his chance, after the foreigner has decided to undergo trial.
In a motion filed by his lawyer Rameses Victorius Villagonzalo before Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 6, Griffiths asked the court to determine the place of his detention, pending bail application or trial, schedule of hearings, complete list of prosecution witnesses and appearance of private prosecutors.
The lawyer said that Griffiths wants to clear his name.
Renante welcomed the foreigner’s move.
“Iyaha man nang katungod nga ma-clear ang iyang ngan, at the same time madungog pod ang iyang side (It’s his right to clear his name and air his side),” he said.
Villagonzalo said that Griffiths will surrender if the court approves the motion, but the latter wants a marathon hearing on the case. The motion for chamber conference was filed last Monday.
When asked if he is afraid Griffiths would be acquitted if the tri- al pushes through, Renante said it all depends on the evidence and witnesses.
“Perhaps there will be more evidence. We’re still seeking justice,” he said in Cebuano.
Villagonzalo said that Griffiths also wants to undergo trial because his movement is still restricted by law enforcers in London.
“It’s not easy for him to go out of London. He’s having a hard time traveling. If he goes to a country that has an extradition treaty with the Philippines, he may be arrested. Kapoy na pod. Legal issue na pod,” the lawyer told SunStar in a phone interview.
The local courts cannot force Griffiths to face trial because the United Kingdom has no extradition treaty with the Philippines.
Griffiths and his Cebuana girlfriend Bella Ruby Santos were charged with kidnapping with homicide for the death of Ellah Joy. The case against Santos was dismissed in October 2014, after RTC Branch 6 Judge Ester Veloso ruled that the prosecution failed to show beyond reasonable doubt that Santos was the one who kidnapped Ellah Joy while she was walking home from school with friends on Feb. 8, 2011.
Veloso ruled there was insufficient evidence against Santos.
The judge pointed out in her order that the prosecution’s case relied mainly on the account of a Grade 6 pupil, who testified that she saw Ellah Joy get into a vehicle near a public school she attended in Barangay Calajoan, Minglanilla town.
Santos, the child had told the court, sat in front, and Ellah sat on her lap.
A white man was reportedly in the driver’s seat.
The witness has a younger sister who was Ellah’s classmate. But two other children who were walking home in the same group as the sisters told the police that another couple had kidnapped Ellah: Karen Esdrelon and Sven-Erik Berger.
Police arrested Esdrelon and Berger on Feb. 12, 2011 in Mactan airport.
Less than a week later, the National Bureau of Investigation showed proof—-photos taken from a hotel’s security camera— that the pair could not have been at the crime scene on the day Ellah Joy disappeared and on the night she died. The police still filed the case. The prosecutor’s office eventually dropped the case for lack of evidence last Feb. 28, 2011, 20 days after the last time the victim was seen alive.