CHANGED LIVES

Unidentified men in civilian clothes, who are believed to be tasked to ensure the safety of road rage shooting suspect David Lim Jr., linger outside the stockade of the Cebu City Police Office. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

Road rage shooting victim fears for his safety; suspect still stays in jail

The life of the scion of one of the wealthiest families in Cebu is not the only one changed by Sunday’s road rage shooting.

It also disrupted the once peaceful and private life of the nurse as well as of his loved ones.

Ephraim Nuñal and his family are now asking the police to protect them out of fear that the family of David Lim Jr. might get back at them.

“My client and his family fear for their lives. They know that David belongs to a very prominent and rich family and has wide connections even from Malacañang. We don’t know the people behind the accused,” said his lawyer Mundlyn Misal-Martin, the counsel of Nuñal.

Since Nuñal was brought to the hospital, Martin said a suspicious-looking man had been passing back and forth outside the victim’s room.

The deployment of two policemen outside his room doesn’t make the victim and his family feel safer, the lawyer said.

She said the family coursed their request for police protection through Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Osmeña planned to assign his former body guard SPO1 Adonis Dumpit to stand guard outside Nuñal’s room while he was recuperating in the hospital.

Dumpit, however, would continue to be stationed at the Carbon police station while providing security to Nuñal until the victim would be discharged from the hospital.

“Back and forth (to hospital) lang siya,” Osmeña explained.

Seeking protection

But Martin said the entire family wanted protection from the police and not just the victim.

Nuñal, a nurse by profession, also planned to leave his home in Barangay Dumlog in Talisay City and transfer to another place to ensure his safety.

PHOTO GRAB of the video of the road rage incident showing a man repeatedly shooting another man that he had a traffic altercation with in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City at 3 a.m. on Sunday, as the female companion of the shooter watched in horror. The video went viral after it was posted on Facebook.

“His life really changed after the incident. He and his family have been hounded by so much fear. It’s as if their freedom has been limited,” she said.

Aside from security, Martin said they were also concerned about the medical condition of Nuñal who continued to feel pain on his ankle and thigh where he was shot.

According to Nuñal, he was driving his friends to their home early Sunday when a Mercedez Benz in front of him was crisscrossing the two-lane, narrow road of F. Sotto Street in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City.

The car stopped and a young couple went out, reportedly arguing.

When Nuñal honked his horn to call the driver’s attention that his Mercedes Benz was blocking the road, the man who was later identified as Lim kicked his Toyota Altis.

An altercation broke out which ended with Lim shooting Nuñal in the leg.

Through the help of Secretary Bong Go, special assistant to President Rodrigo Duterte, Lim, 28, surrendered to the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) on Tuesday after hiding for two days.

He was later brought to the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) stockade to wait for the resolution of the string of criminal complaints filed against him at the prosecutor’s office.

7 men bar media

As he prepared to spend a second night in detention, seven men in civilian clothes barred the media from taking photos and videos of Lim.

Senior Supt. Joel Doria, CCPO director, told the police officers who were guarding the jail facility not to let any private individual take control of the stockade.

“Bawal yan. Hindi pwede magbantay ang mga civilians sa jail. (That is illegal. Private citizens are not allowed to guard the jail),” he told Cebu Daily News.

DORIA

The media, he said, can also take photographs of Lim and help monitor the inmate whom police considered as a “high-risk” inmate.

Restricting the media to come near the stockade gave rise to rumors that Lim had been allowed to use a cellphone by his relatives.

On his first night in jail, Lim spent his time sitting on a plastic mat while reading magazines and books brought by his sister and brother-in-law.

Two small portable electric fans were also brought inside the jail.

About 10 p.m. on Tuesday, his sister and brother-in law-distributed ice cream in cones to male detainees in the adjacent cell.

First-come-first served

Orlando Salatandre Jr., Lim’s lawyer, had appealed to Prosecutor Ma. Theresa Casiño to expedite and prioritize the resolution of Lim’s case. But she refused.

“Our office doesn’t prioritize just because of individuals or positions. I resolve cases on a first-come, first-served basis. Whatever is first on the line comes first,” Casiño told reporters.

She explained she had to resolve those complaints filed ahead of Lim’s because she didn’t want to be accused of giving him special treatment.

CASIÑO

Aside from Lim’s case, Casiño was also handling the complaint against three Romanian nationals suspected to be behind the series of unauthorized withdrawals from automated teller machines of a government bank in Cebu.

The complaint against the Romanians were filed on Tuesday morning while Lim’s case was the last to be filed on that day at 3 p.m.

Casiño left the office for a scheduled lecture at the Department of Tourism and went back an hour later.

In the meantime, Salatandre had been waiting at the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office since morning, hoping that the resolution of the complaints would be released and the cases be elevated to the court so his client could post bail and be released from detention.

But Casiño said it would be unfair to those whose cases were filed first if she would resolve Lim’s first.

“If they are talking about detention, all the cases I’m resolving involve detention prisoners. Why should I give special treatment to one? Everyone should be equal. What delay are they talking about?” the feisty prosecutor said.

Casiño promised to sign the information or the case sheet on Thursday morning. But her findings would have to be reviewed by Cebu City Prosecutor Liceria Lofranco-Rabillas who would either approve or overturn Casiño’s findings.

While waiting for the resolution to come out, the Lim family was beefing up the suspect’s defense.

P300K reward

Salatandre said the family was offering P300,000 cash reward to anyone who could present the full video of the road rage shooting.

Lawyer Orlando Salatandre Jr. said they are particularly looking for the dash board camera which captured the incident involving David Jr. and Ephraim Nuñal. (CDN PHOTO/IZOBELLE T. PULGO)

If proven that Lim shot the victim without prior provocation and fight, Salatandre said he would withdraw as legal counsel of the respondent.

“I appeal for help. I know there are things to be revealed in that dashboard camera video. Evidence will not lie. It will speak for itself,” he said.

Lim’s camp claimed that the footage of the road rage that was uploaded on social media and used by the police investigation only showed the parts that would incriminate the respondent.

The owner of the dash board video is one of the two witnesses who identified David Jr. as the one who shot and wounded Nuñal following the traffic altercation.

Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak said the owner of the video promised to present the unedited version in court.

“If someone will produce full video, so be it. (I) will present the video in a proper forum,” the witness said in a text to Tumulak, who is deputy mayor for police matters.