Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor Ruso Zaragoza discusses updates on the brutal killing of Christine Lee Silawan on May 10. | Rosalie O. Abatayo
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — The Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutors Office has recommended the filing of a murder case in court against Renato Llenes, the self-confessed killer of 16-year-old Christine Lee Silawan.
Prosecutor Ruso Zaragoza, in a press conference on Friday, May 10, said the police had provided sufficient circumstantial evidence to indict Llenes, apart from the latter’s extra-judicial confession.
Zaragoza said that they dropped the case filed by the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) against Silawan’s 18-year-old former boyfriend due to the “weakness” of the evidence presented in linking him to the brutal slay.
Read more: Murder complaint filed against 17-year-old suspect in Christine Silawan killing
Silawan was the Grade 9 student from Maribago National High School who was found dead at a vacant lot in Barangay Bankal with her face skinned to the bone on March 11.
Read more: Suspect Llenes recounts how he killed 16-year-old Christine Silawan
Although presenting almost the same set of closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, Zaragoza said, the three witnesses presented by the NBI-7 to have positively identified the 18-year-old failed to validate their testimony before the Prosecutors Office.
Read more: GALLERY: Images of confessed suspect in Christine Lee Silawan murder
Meanwhile, Zaragoza said that the witnesses that were presented by the police, including Llenes’ live in partner, positively identified him as the person on the CCTV footage with Silawan on the early evening of March 10./dbs