It keeps cropping up in the Bella Santos case about theories and speculation over facts and common sense. But oddly enough its common in the Philippines for speculative media and corrupt Police to condemn innocent people to "close cases”. Being guilty falls second to public demand and in the Ellah Joy murder case which sees Bella Santos and Ian Griffiths accused of the murder without any facts or solid evidence its exactly what is happening.
The first so called guilty parties in the Ellah Joy case condemned for the murder in a media storm and backed by fake witnesses Sven Erik Berger, 49 and his Philippine girlfriend, Karen Castro Esdrelon, 24.
The thing is it takes time to unravel lies in the Philippines as the system is setup in the reverse way you would find in many other countries your guilty until proven innocent and on average cases take 7 years to be heard in full. Now this is what the Philippines court system call evidence :-
Lito (not his real name), a self-confessed pimp, said that Berger was the one who asked him for a girl he could bring with him to Moalboal.
“We never went to Moalboal,” Esdrelon said in Cebuano.
After hearing the allegations, Esdrelon said she got mad and cursed the witnesses.
Lito faced Berger and told the police that the latter, with Esdrelon, approached him on Colon St. at 5 p.m. last Monday, Feb. 7.
Berger called Lito a liar. He arrived in Cebu at 6:40 p.m. that day.
That’s right a self confessed “pimp!” is obviously good for his word fancy a couple of years in jail anyone? Now the thing is it doesn’t stop there the issue next is the fact they weren’t even in Minglanilla and had receipts and photographs of being in Waterfront hotel in Lahug, Cebu on that evening. Which led to this :-
But the official would not not admit Cebu police made mistakes, although federal colleagues in the NBI has confirmed the accused’s alibi: A well-photographed day off where they checked into a hotel with surveillance cameras two hours away venue – 40 minutes after the event.
- Thank God we were not on a picnic in the woods or anything like that day when we had lacked an alibi and ended up rotting in prison, "said Berger. In the temporary custody arrangement on politistasjoen was newly engaged couple yesterday surrounded by dozens of Esdrelons relatives, who both provided food and motivational talks through the increasingly intricate process.
The entire criminal case against the pair are now based on the fact that three school children on Saturday night was rushed to the airport police to point out the man and the woman they had seen kidnap Ellah Joy Pique (6). In a witness confrontation without comparable pairs, the children have pointed to Berger and Esdrelon, who was arrested only because a passport inspector thought they looked like a phantom drawing distributed by the police.
- We can not just put aside the children’s testimony. It is up to the accused to prove his innocence, "said deputy police chief Eduardo Saavedra Ylaja to Dagbladet.
Which was then followed by this written by Mr Berger on a forum (translated into English) sometime later :-
Mr. Berger’s words in English
I don’t have the strength to read all posts now, but want to write some words…
First, thanks for all support here on the forum (Asia forum.no) and to those that have visited me, and other places…
Yes, we have had special treatment… but I would gladly been to jail and been beaten up every day if only the police would have checked the alibi to Karen and me.
I am not clear in my head now, its probably not wise to write too much but my innocent is the police investigation:
1. the only evidence they have is some children that identified us. The only people they saw in the line up was me and Karen, with their parents present and 200.000 peso of reward the outcome was obvious. the more times the children pointed at me and Karen the stronger the police believed their identification….even the line up was worthless when it was just me and Karen!!!
2. The police did not investigate ONE of our alibis.
There has been a lot of other witnesses as well, pimps and others who want to get their piece of the reward…the police buy it as long as it fits in their picture.
You can talk about adopting to other country’s laws and so on but I thinks its bullshit…
NBI did the job the police should have done, in a very short time and very professional.
The police have by this conduct destroyed their witnesses, thrown away time and resources on us when they should have been looking for the real killers, that worries me…
A horrible crime, Ellah’s family have my full support, I am a father of 2 children, I can only imagine how it must feel…
My hope is that since the police now are overrun by the NBI, they can find the killers, they have shown that they can conduct a professional investigation!
I hope that you will be informed through the press on our status.
Again thank you for you’re support!
Fact here its not uncommon for the local Police to have a witch hunt then trying to get a shoe to fit innocents as your seeing above and in the words of one of their captors that is now released and the fact is without a good legal team could have been stranded in a Philippines jail for years. Fact is there was video footage that showed them in a hotel at the time of the abduction, fact is if they hadn’t been at the hotel they would still be in jail TODAY.
CEBU CITY — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Central Visayas submitted Friday a report that supports a Norwegian national and his Cebuana fiancee’s alibi that they were elsewhere at the time a six-year-old girl was kidnapped in Minglanilla.
At least 14 photographs, captured from the footage of the Waterfront Hotel’s security cameras, were submitted to Governor Gwendolyn Garcia. She will submit the full report on Monday to the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s office.
The first two photos show the couple, Sven Erik Berger and Karen Esdrelon, entering the hotel at 4:44 p.m. last February 8, bringing their bags. At 4:45 p.m., they were registering at the front desk. Each photo bears a date and time stamp.
According to witnesses, Ellah Joy Pique, 6, was abducted from outside a public school in Minglanilla past 4 p.m. on February 8.
The town lies more than 15 kilometers south of Cebu City.
Asked if she was convinced Berger and Esdrelon are not the suspects, Garcia replied: "You can make your own conclusion." She also declined to say whether she will seek the relief of Cebu Provincial Police Chief Erson Digal.
"As I said, expect action. Abangan ang susunod na kabanata," the governor said during a press conference where she presented the NBI Central Visayas’s report to the press.
NBI-Central Visayas Director Edward Villarta declined to comment.
Taken from SunStar Newspaper Article Here.
Originally posted 2012-01-12 15:00:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
