MANILA, Philippines — Dennis Sytin, brother of slain Subic-based businessman Dominic, denied being the mastermind behind the killing of his brother.
Dennis on Monday filed his counter-affidavit on the police’s murder and frustrated murder complaints over the killing of Dominic who was killed in a gun attack last November. The businessman's driver Efren Espartero was wounded when he tried to fight back.
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Dennis defended himself from the allegations and hit back at suspected gunman Edgardo Luib, who he said is “motivated by self-preservation and the instinct to protect Oliver [Fuentes], who is his childhood friend and kumpadre.”
Police said that Luib pointed at Dennis as the brains behind the crime. Also tagged in the case is Oliver Fuentes, alias Ryan Rementilla, who is Dominic’s former employee.
“Luib has strong motives to fabricate and deliver a false and general narrative which contains none of the vital details by which the truthfulness of his statements against me can be tested,” Dennis said.
Police in March arrested Luib, who is believed to be the gunman in the murder of Dominic, the founder of United Auctioneers Inc.
Dennis also argued that there was no physical evidence to link him to the planning of the crime, which allegedly happened in a beach resort. He said that there was no video footage, logbook, receipt or even statements from witnesses that would back Luib’s statements.
“In this case, the purported identification made by Luib was not corroborated by any evidence at all. This reduces Luib’s assertion to a mere allegation which I am advised is not considered by the Supreme Court as equivalent to proof,” his counter-affidavit read.
He also raised that he submitted himself to a polygraph test at the National Bureau of Investigation and it showed that he had “no specific reaction indicative of deception to questions asked relative to the investigation on the death of Dominic Sytin.”
NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin in an interview with Philstar.com last year said that a polygraph examination is used only to get leads in investigations but are inadmissible in court.
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