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Carjack-slay suspect Roger Dominguez charged in court


Suspected carjack gang leader Roger Dominguez and a companion have been charged with carnapping with homicide in connection with the killing of car dealer Venson Evangelista last January. The charge against Dominguez, 33, and Jayson Miranda, was filed with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on Tuesday, and was based on the recommendation of prosecutor Irene Resurreccion, who found probable cause to indict the respondents in court. “There is sufficient ground to engender a well founded belief that the crime has been committed by respondents Dominguez and Miranda along with their three co-respondents who have been earlier charged in court," Resurreccion said in her 17-page resolution. No bail has been recommended for the two. The case against the two will be consolidated with the case of Dominguez’s younger brother, Raymond, and two other suspects Alfred Mendiola and Ferdinand Parulan, which is now pending before the sala of QCRTC Branch 215 Presiding Judge Ma. Luisa Quijano-Padilla. The indictment of the Dominguez brothers were based on the confessions of Mendiola and Parulan, who claimed that the abduction and killing of Evangelista were masterminded by the Dominguezes. The investigating prosecutor particularly noted the confession of Mendiola and Parulan, who detailed how Evangelista was lured into joining them for a test drive, abducted, and then later killed. “The crime was carefully and meticulously planned by the group with Raymond and Roger at the helm as the main players. Even by itself, both confessions can stand alone as both are supported by the ‘corpus delicti’ or the fact that the crime was actually committed with the recovery of Evangelista’s charred remains," part of the resolution read. Resurreccion said Roger’s alibi that he was in his lawyer’s office in Bulacan at the time when the alleged planning took place, was a weak defense for being “easy to fabricate and highly unreliable." “His claim that he was at that time in Cruz Mauleon Law Office in Malolos City working on the documents for the release of his impounded vehicle will not work to exculpate him from the crime," the prosecutor said in the resolution. The Dominguez brothers were also believed to be behind the abduction and killing of another car dealer, Emerson Lozano, son of Marcos lawyer Oliver Lozano, and Lozano’s driver Ernani Sensil also last January. Roger was arrested in Quezon City last Feb. 10, while Raymod turned himself in to authorities in Bulacan late last month. Both had denied involvement in the crime. - KBK, GMA News

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