The camp of Cebu road rage victim Ephraim Nuñal has opposed the request of David Lim Jr. to allow him to travel
abroad for a weeklong cruise with his family in the United States and Canada.
In a pleading filed in court, Nuñal’s lawyer Mundlyn Misal-Martin said there are no compelling reason or urgency for Lim to leave the country.
“If the accused is allowed to leave the Philippines without sufficient reason would place him beyond the reach of the courts,” she said.
“With his money and influence, it is probable that he is never going back to the country and face this allegation to the damage and prejudice of the victim,” she added.
Instead of letting Lim go abroad, Martin appealed to the court set the arraignment of the accused “as soon as possible without much more delay in the interest of justice.”
Lim’s lawyers Gilbert Viloria and Conrado Sarmiento Jr. earlier asked permission from the court to let the accused join his family for a trip abroad.
A year ago, they said Lim and his family already booked a cruise tour from Alaska, USA to Vancouver in Canada from May 29 to June 2, 2017.
Lim and his family are set to return to the country on June 8.
Last December 2016, they said the family has purchased airline tickets for their trip abroad.
Viloria and Sarmiento said the accused should be allowed to leave the country because the latter is not a threat to the national security, not a flight risk, and that no Hold Departure Order was issued against him.
“The accused is willing to post additional bail bond while may be deemed just and reasonable before the honorable court,” Lim’s lawyers said.
Judge Alexander Acosta of the Regional Trial Court Branch 9, to whom the pleading was filed, has yet to rule on Lim’s request to travel abroad.
Lim earlier surrendered to Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas, two days after he shot and wounded Nuñal following an altercation along F. Sotto Street in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City last March 19.
He was charged with frustrated homicide and illegal possession of ammunition.
The gun he used in shooting the victim was purportedly lost.
Lim secured temporary liberty after he posted bail in court.