Autopsy report on Mayor Espinosa shows ‘overkill’

Eighteen-year-old Chesney Espinosa, youngest daughter of slain Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., weeps before the covered body of her father, begging for a hug, as funeral parlor workers carry him out of the Baybay Sub-Provincial Jail. (Photo by Robert Dejon)

RESULTS of an autopsy on the body of slain Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. showed an “overkill,” according to his lawyer, Leilani Villarino, yesterday.

Villarino said that based on the autopsy conducted by Cebu-based members of the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO), Espinosa sustained four gunshot wounds that pierced through his liver and stomach.

The results, she said, would also tend to show that the mayor was lying down when shot by elements of the Eastern Visayas’ Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG-8).

The Philippine National Police (PNP) had yet to release their official autopsy report as of last night.

The autopsy was conducted by Chief Insp Benjamin Lara, the medicolegal officer of SOCO in Central Visayas.

The destruction of the mayor’s gastric parts, according to Villarino, would deter the Espinosas’ plans for a drug test to be conducted on the mayor’s body.

“Overkill!” Villarino said.

Villarino earlier told reporters that the Espinosa family was still in shock over the mayor’s death inside a detention cell where he was supposed to have been safe; and was still having a hard time accepting his fate in the hands of police.

Asked if the family would be taking any legal action against CIDG-8, Villarino said, “I cannot say for now.”

Just like the Espinosa family, Villarino could not believe police accounts that the mayor drew a gun and engaged CIDG operatives in a firefight inside his cell.

“For the last few months that I’ve been talking to the mayor, I’ve known him for the way he interacted,” she said.

Villarino described her client as a very soft spoken person who was very calm.

She said there were even times when the mayor trembled in fear and cried over what happened to him and his family.

The Espinosa family believes that the mayor was killed for naming police and government officials that made money out of protecting the illegal drugs operation of his son, Kerwin Espinosa, tagged as Eastern Visayas’ biggest drug lord.

The fugitive, Kerwin, was arrested in Abu Dhabi more than two weeks ago, last October 17, in an operation conducted by the Abu Dhabi police and the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) in coordination with Interpol.

PNP chief, Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa had then said that Kerwin will be extradited immediately after the processing of his documents which would give him clearance to travel back into the country.