Lawyer wants retrial of Cebu kidnap case

CEBU CITY — The lawyer of four convicts in the 2001 kidnapping of Cebuano boy Ryan James Yu is asking the court to try his clients anew after new and material evidence has reportedly been discovered for their defense.

In a motion submitted to Regional Trial Court Branch 22, lawyer Salvador Solima is also asking the court to hold in abeyance the shipment of convicts Edgar Manimog, Jovencio Camado, Efren Hernandez and Roberto Galope to the National Penitentiary.

Last Feb. 7, RTC Judge Pampio Abarintos sentenced principal suspects Galope and Camado to death, Hernandez to 40 years’ imprisonment as an accomplice, and Edgar Manimog to 17 years in jail as an accessory to the kidnapping for ransom.

Abarintos, however, dismissed the case against one of the original accused, Henry Hernandez, for failure of the prosecution to present sufficient evidence to prove his guilt.

But in his motion, Solima claimed there is newly discovered material evidence that consists of testimonies of six "newly discovered material witnesses" for the defense.

He said the six witnesses were not able to testify during the previous trial because all of them were in Mindanao.

Solima said a retrial is imperative to give the convicts the chance to present the six witnesses who are reportedly all from Mindanao.

In his verdict, Abarintos gave weight to the testimony of suspect-turned-witness Oster Repollo, who positively identified the accused as those who committed the crime, which former policeman Engelberto Durano allegedly masterminded.

Because he was arrested much later than the four convicts, Durano is facing a separate trial.

But the court denied a motion of the prosecution to adopt Repollo’s earlier testimony in Durano’s case. – Freeman News Service