MOTIVE FOR MURDER?

Close friend of slain lawyer says Amelie Alegre struggled with death threats, land dispute, and a broken marriage

Friends and relatives pay their last respects to lawyer Amelie Alegre at the St. Peter’s Chapel in Imus Road, Cebu City. The 35-year-old lawyer was shot dead in a car ambush in Mandaue City on Thursday evening. Can the police solve this case soon?
(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Is a  marriage on the rocks and the potential loss of property enough motive for murder?

An associate and close friend of slain lawyer Amelie Ocañada Alegre, who survived Thursday’s car ambush in Mandaue City, said police investigators should look closely at the circumstances of the victim’s husband.

“I couldn’t think of any other motive. Yes, we do have remarkable  cases in our law firm but they don’t warrant any violence,” said lawyer  Briccio Joseph Boholst, who was shot in the leg.

Boholst, a former senior official of Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes’ administration, said he was privy to the Alegre couple’s strained relationship, and “death threats”  that Amelie received after her husband filed a court petition to annul their marriage in 2008.

READ: Lady lawyer dies in Mandaue car ambush

He said the couple argued over how to divide a fishpond in Talisay City inherited by her husband, property of which half now belonged to Amelie.

According to Boholst, the lady lawyer filed a temporary protection order against her husband because she felt unsafe, and wanted her driver to learn how to shoot a gun.

“The only person who could do this to Am-am is her husband. That’s it. Only that,” Boholst told Cebu Daily News at his closely guarded hospital room in UC Medical Center.

Police said they would invite the victim’s husband Ryan Alegre, a businessman, to answer some questions in the police station but did not consider him a suspect at this point.

Cebu Daily News went to Ryan’s residence in barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City yesterday to seek his comment on his wife’s death.

A hefty man opened the door and said that Ryan “doesn’t want to talk about it now”, then closed the door.

Under pressure to solve the case, Mandaue police chief Senior Supt. Mariano Natu-el said the attack by two assailants on a motorbike involved hired gunmen.

With the pattern of shots fired mostly at the driver’s side of the BMW sedan, he said Amelie was the apparent target.

Police said the violence could be work-related or stem from a personal grudge.

Natu-el said he was inclined to believe  personal animosity was involved because”based on my assessment, I could say the law firm cases she handled had nothing to do with the crime.”

Amelie, 35, was was about drop off Boholst at home in barangay Looc and was less than 500 meters away from their destination when the ambush took place at about 6:50 p.m.

Boholst was in the backseat. Office mate Antonio Pino was in the  passenger seat beside Amelie. The lady lawyer died of three gunshot wounds in the head and body.

Boholst and Pino were both wounded.

The motorbike driver wore a full-faced helmet that hid his features, but the gunman, according to witnesses, wore a cap.

‘THREATENED’

Boholst said the family of the husband owned a fishpond cultivating prawns in Talisay  City. The property used to be owned by Ryan’s father before ownership was transferred to Ryan.

“The fear of losing that single business… His family was afraid that Atty. Am-am would take the property away from them although Am-am’s plan was to eventually return it to them,” he said.

Upon their marriage, the property became  jointly owned by the Alegre couple under the legal principle of “absolute community.”

“When they got married, the property is now their property. In case their marriage is annulled, the property would have to be divided  between them,” Boholst explained.

Boholst said Ryan had been negotiating with Amelie to receive the amount he offered in exchange for her half of the property but Amelie refused since they could not agree on the amount.

Boholst said Amelie confided about getting several “death threats” from her husband after they parted ways  in 2008. Amelie and Ryan were college sweethearts at the University of San Carlos before they got married in 2004.

An annulment case filed by the husband is pending before Judge Bienvinido Saniel of the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City.

According to Bohsolst, Amelie filed a petition for temporary protection order against her husband because she was afraid of being harmed.

In 2010, Amelie was hit by a vehicle outside a fastfood restaurant in barnagay Tabok, Mandaue City.  Boholst said the car was driven by a woman with Ryan in the front seat.

The impact broke Amelie’s leg and required surgery to implant a titanium plate so the lawyer could walk.

Boholst said Amelie even wanted to have her driver trained to handle a gun and shoot.

Boholst, former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ (IBP) Cebu City Chapter and former Mandaue City administrator, is being secured by policemen in his hospital room.