Court junks Katrina Halili's case vs Hayden Kho Jr

(Updated 10:27 p.m.) A local court on Tuesday junked the criminal and civil cases filed by actress Katrina Halili against her ex-lover, former celebrity doctor Hayden Kho Jr., in connection with their sex video scandal last year. In a 10-page decision, Judge Rodolfo Bonifacio of the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 159 dismissed the cases after the prosecution camp failed to present sufficient proof to show Halili was unaware that she was being videotaped while having sex with Kho. “It is clear that evidence is insufficient to prove that the sex video was taken without the private complainant’s knowledge. On this score alone, it will already be very hard to hold the accused criminally responsible for his act of taking the sex video," the court said in its ruling. Halili accused Kho of violating Republic Act (RA) 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act, for allegedly videotaping their sexual tryst and then uploading it on the Internet without her consent.
The court said that based on data from ocular inspections on the room where the incident took place, it is unlikely that Halili was unaware of the presence of the video recorder placed on a table just five feet away from the bed. “There was no need to belabor the obvious: the video camera was there visible to both of them, it was aimed at the direction of the bed, and it was already the fourth occasion when their libidinous activities were recorded in video," the ruling read. Halili insists she’s unaware Halili, however, insisted that she was completely unaware that she was being videotaped when she and Kho were together inside the hotel room. “Mamatay pa ako o mamatay pa buong pamilya ko, hindi ko talaga alam (I swear on my family's graves I was not really aware of the videotape)," she said in an interview aired over GMA News’ “24 Oras" on Tuesday night. She said the court decision “gave her goosebumps" because it meant similar crimes can be committed to other people without being punished. “’Yung pinaglalaban ko naman hindi lang para sa akin. Para sa ibang tao rin. Ano ‘yun? Mauulit-ulit lang ito sa ibang tao (I was fighting not only for me but also for others. Are we going to allow this to happen to other people)?" she said. Lawyer Raymond Palad, Halili’s counsel, meanwhile said their camp will study the court decision and make the necessary legal moves in the coming days. Very satisfied Lawyer Lorna Kapunan, Kho’s counsel, said their camp is “very satisfied" with the court’s decision. “We are happy that the court ruled that there is no basis to the cases filed against my client," she told GMANews.TV in an interview. She added that the defense camp is going to use this court decision to convince the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to lift the revocation of Kho’s medical license. PRC revoked Kho’s license in November last year after Halili filed with the commission immorality complaints against her ex-lover. - KBK/LBG, GMANews.TV