4 suspects in Kua slay negative for gunpowder

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – A medico legal officer reported that the four suspects in the robbery-slay last July 21 of former tourism official and STAR reporter Nixon Kua have tested negative for gunpowder burns.

He said almost 72 hours passed from the time the crime was committed to when the four suspects were subjected to paraf- fin test last July 24.

Roy Camarillo said the result of the paraffin test conducted by the Scene Of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) on suspects Darwin Samiano, 20, John Rey Cortez, 22, Noel Garcia, 23 and Michael Molino, 21, showed that they were negative of gun- powder residue.

Senior Superintendent Vladimir Villaseor, chief of the Crime Laboratory Office in Region 4A, said the empty shell from a .45 caliber pistol recovered by the Task Force Nixon was brought to Philippine National Police crime laboratory in Camp Crame, Quezon City for ballistic examination.

He said the paraffin test results, however, would not affect the evidence against the suspects, who were positively identified by members of Kua’s family who witnessed the incident.

Senior Superintendent Bernabe Balba, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group 4A regional director, said his men are still searching for the murder weapon, a .45 caliber pistol, and the P90,000 cash that was taken by the suspects from Kua’s daughter.

The suspects allegedly shot Kua in the face. He later died in hospital.

Balba said the four suspects were charged with robbery with homicide and frustrated murder before the Prosecutor’s Office in Calamba City last Tuesday.

His brother Allyson was shot and wounded in the robbery at the Ayala-owned Greenfield Subdivision in Calamba City.

Laguna police director Senior Superintendent Gilbert Cruz said Samiano was the triggerman who shot Kua, while Kua’s wife Susan tagged Cortez as Allyson’s shooter.

“It does not mean that if the person, individuals and even the four suspects are negative of gunpowder (burns) they did not fire a gun,” Camarillo explained.

Cortez was also identified as the suspect who pointed a handgun at Susan. Cruz said the case against the suspects is airtight because Kua’s relatives positively identified the four suspects as the perpetrators. Police said the suspects are also facing rape charges in a separate case.

Judge Maria Florencia Formes-Baculo had issued a warrant of arrest against them for the attack on their 21-year-old classmate in 2009.