Pieces of evidence do not match

CEBU, Philippines - Discrepancies in the evidence gathered so far now point away from the man currently detained for the death of one-year-old Charise Opsima, who was hit by a stray bullet inside their house in Sitio Upper Lipata, Barangay Linao, Minglanilla last Sunday.

Minglanilla police recovered the air gun of Candelario Cañedo at his house last Tuesday but during surgery, the physician recovered a slug in Charise’s head, which SPO1 Renato Masangcay described as that of a .38 revolver or 9mm pistol.

Chief Insp. Timmar Alam, Minglanilla police chief, said that air guns normally use pellets.

“If air gun man gyud gani iyang gamit possibly ma-negative siya sa paraffin test kay wa man nay gunpowder, (If he used an air gun, he would possibly yield negative results in the paraffin test because it doesn’t have gunpowder.)” Alam told The FREEMAN.

Police were only relying on the statements of the witness, Francisco Villondo, who saw Cañeda discharge his air gun early in the morning but he was not sure what Cañeda used as bullet.

Alam said they will pursue the filing of illegal discharge of firearm resulting to homicide against Cañeda but they are also open to possible suspects of the crime.

In a separate interview, the victim’s father, Christian Opsima, vowed to seek justice for Charise.

“Hustiya akong gipangita karon para sa akong anak, dili nako i-atras ang kaso kung siya ang mapamatud-an,(I want justice for my daughter. I will pursue the case.)” he said.

Charise was hit by a stray bullet in the back portion of her head.

Christopher thought Charise was in stable condition after a five-hour operation but around 11:00 p.m. Charise had difficulty breathing.

The physician then advised the Opsima couple to subject Charise to a computerized tomography (CT) scan around 8:00a.m. last Monday. In the afternoon, Charise was rushed to the intensive care unit (ICU).

It was around 3:00 a.m. last Tuesday when Charise was declared dead at the Don Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.

“Okay lang unta to og ako kay kaya nako unya bata man gud. (If it was me, perhaps I could take the suffering…but she was just a helpless child.)” Christopher said.

Internment will be on Sunday afternoon at the Minglanilla public cemetery in Barangay Poblacion.— (FREEMAN)