THE 17-year-old boy who was beaten up in a parking lot outside a mall in California is a scion of the Aznar clan in Cebu.
“Christian (Rasner) is the biological son of (Christopher) Jake Aznar,” said lawyer Inocencio de La Cerna Jr. after reading the banner story of Cebu Daily News yesterday.
“We remember him (Christian) to be a kind and gentle child. It is quite unfortunate that this happened to a member of the Aznar clan,” he added.
Rasner is in a medically-induced coma since last Monday to protect him from further brain injury which he sustained after he was beaten up by suspected gang members in Sta. Fe, California.
Two Asian-looking men attacked Christian last March 18 while he walked with friends at Westfield Fair Mall.
Speedy recovery
Authorities believed the attackers had been undergoing gang initiation which involved violently attacking someone.
De La Cerna, the lawyer of the Aznar-owned Southwestern University (SWU), said the entire family was saddened about the incident, and called on authorities to go after the perpetrators.
“Violence of whatever nature should be condemned. We fervently hope and pray for his speedy recovery, the arrest and prosecution of the persons who caused his injury,” he said.
De La Cerna said Christian’s father Jake died after he accidentally pulled the trigger of a gun he was cleaning on Jan. 9, 2003. “It was not a case of suicide,” the lawyer said.
De La Cerna said Christian has been receiving financial support from the Aznar family in Cebu. Christian was born in Cebu City.
Grandson
When he was six years old, he moved with his mother Maria Gueca to the US.
Gueca used to be Jake’s live-in partner. When they separated, Jake had a relationship with Wensie Badajos whom he lived with until he died at the age of 24 in 2003.
Gueca, on the other hand, married Greg Rasner in the US. Jake is the great grandson of the founder of Southwestern University.
Aside from the school, the family also owns the Sacred Heart Hospital and is also engaged in the real state business.
Before he died, Jake was facing several criminal charges before the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office and in different courts in Cebu.
These included kidnapping and frustrated murder, illegal possession of firearms, possession of illegal drugs and car theft.
Jake is the cousin of Jozman Aznar who was convicted along with other wealthy young men for the abduction, rape and killing of sisters Jacqueline and Marijoy Chiong in 1997.