Ampatuan trial: Defense questions integrity of slugs found in victims

Defense lawyers in the Maguindanao massacre trial on Wednesday questioned the integrity of slugs and metal fragments recovered by a medico-legal expert from the bodies of some of the 57 victims. This was after Senior Inspector Felino Brunia Jr., the prosecution’s expert witness from the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory, turned over to the Quezon City court hearing the case five sachets containing items recovered from the bodies of five of the 14 bodies he autopsied. In his earlier testimony, Brunia admitted “forgetting" to turn over to authorities the slugs and metal fragments after conducting the autopsy from Nov. 25 and 26, 2009, less than a week after the grisly massacre that left 57 people, including 32 journalists, dead. Brunia said he had since kept the pieces of evidence locked inside his cabinet at his office in General Santos City. When the defense examined the sachets during Wednesday’s trial, lawyer Andres Manuel pointed out that the slugs and fragments no longer contained blood stains. He said aside from Brunia’s testimony, there seemed to be no other way of finding out if the slugs indeed were extracted from the bodies of the massacre victims. For his part, lawyer Sigfrid Fortun, who represents prime suspects Andal Ampatuan Jr. and Andal Ampatuan Sr., said the evidence may not have been preserved properly. “Is it possible that moisture and oxidation could come in?" asked Fortun, to which Brunia answered in the affirmative. Fortun asked the witness why he did not use a hot iron in sealing the plastic sachets containing the evidence. Brunia said using staple wires is enough, although he admitted that the plastic sachets were “not impervious" to water. Meanwhile, lawyer Paris Real expressed in court his observation that the plastic sachets and the staple wires on them all looked “new" considering that the items had been inside Brunia’s cabinet for more than a year now. The court, however, disagreed. “As far as this court is concerned, they don’t look new," said Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the QC Regional Trial Court Branch 221 after perusing the items. Manuel also pointed out during his cross examination that some of the dates and times when Brunia claimed to have conducted his autopsies appeared in his notes but not in his autopsy reports or anatomical sketches. The lawyer also stressed why the medico-legal expert failed to note down every procedure he did on the victims’ remains, including the time when blood was drawn out as he was examining the organs. “But I indicated the damages sustained by the victims," Brunia replied. Brunia is the latest medico-legal expert presented by the prosecution panel, following testimonies of Dr. Dean Cabrera and Dr. Reynaldo Romero, respectively from the Philippine National Police Crime Lab and National Bureau of Investigation. After Brunia, the prosecution is planning to present to court once more Dr. Ricardo Rodaje, who has already testified during bail hearings for Andal Jr. in January 2010. Rodaje had said in his previous testimony that Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu’s wife, Genalin, suffered “the most painful death" among the 57 massacre victims. At the time of the massacre, the Mangudadatus and the Ampatuans were at loggerheads over political dominance in Maguindanao. - KBK, GMA News