7 more witnesses in Kian slay surface
Seven more witnesses in the killing of student Kian Loyd delos Santos during an anti-narcotics operation in Caloocan City last month have surfaced at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The witnesses – all neighbors of Kian – who are under the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), appeared in a preliminary investigation hearing yesterday and supported the criminal charges against the four Caloocan policemen tagged in the killing.
The witnesses appeared before the investigating panel chaired Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Tofel Austria and submitted their respective affidavits detailing what they witnessed during the police anti-illegal drug operation last Aug. 16 in their neighborhood in Barrio Libis Baesa, Caloocan City.
They included a 14-year-old neighbor who said Kian had been taken by two policemen with another man believed to be their asset and brought near the Tullahan River where he was killed.
“He was wearing blue t-shirt and boxer short. He also had only one slipper colored red,” the witness said in her affidavit obtained by The STAR.
“I didn’t hear him say a word but I heard him crying,” the witness recalled in Filipino.
The witness said she heard five gunshots a few moments after seeing the policemen drag Kian away.
The other witnesses supported this account that Kian was already under the custody of police before he was shot – contrary to claims of the policemen that the teenager was killed in a shootout with them.
They all said that Kian had no firearm when taken by police from their house, adding that they knew him and was sure he did not own a gun or was ever involved in the illegal drug trade.
One of the new witnesses, a 23-year-old call center agent who lived near the site where Kian was killed, was able to take a photo of the slain teenager at the crime scene before the police scene of the crime operatives arrived.
The photo taken with a cell phone showed the dead Kian kneeling beside the wall with head down. The witness said the victim did not have a firearm.
In the previous hearing, lawyers of Kian’s parents led by Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Rueda-Acosta presented witnesses before the investigating panel of prosecutors.
The witnesses, who all appeared with faces covered with scarves, affirmed their respective affidavits in support of the allegations against the four police respondents. Their names were withheld for security reasons.
Among them was an eyewitness who saw Kian under custody of the respondents before he was shot dead.
The minor witness who has been in the custody of the Caloocan diocese also appeared at the hearing.
The PAO submitted to the DOJ panel the barangay security video and results of the forensic exam conducted by the PAO indicating that Kian was lying face down when shot three times – twice in the head and once at the back.
The four respondents – Chief Insp. Amor Cerillo, Police Officer 3 Arnel Oares and Police Officers 1 Jeremiah Pereda and Jerwin Cruz of Caloocan City police community precinct 7 – denied the murder and torture charges and submitted their counter-affidavit last Monday.